Turboliner

The Turboliners were a family of gas turbine trainsets built for Amtrak in the 1970s. They were among the first new equipment purchased by Amtrak to update its fleet with faster, more modern trains. The first batch, known as RTG, were built by the French firm ANF and entered service on multiple routes in the Midwestern United States in 1973. The new trains led to ridership increases wherever used, but the fixed consist (set collection of rail vehicles) that made up a Turboliner train proved a detriment as demand outstripped supply. The high cost of operating the trains led to their withdrawal from the Midwest in 1981.

The second batch, known as RTL, were of a similar design but manufactured by Rohr Industries. These entered service on the Empire Corridor in the state of New York in 1976. The RTLs remained in service there through the 1990s, supplemented by several rebuilt RTGs. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, New York and Amtrak partnered to rebuild the RTLs for high-speed service; this project failed, and the last RTL trainsets left revenue service in 2003. After the settlement of legal issues, New York sold the remaining trainsets for scrap in 2012.

Amtrak assumed control of almost all private sector intercity passenger rail service in the United States on May 1, 1971, with a mandate to reverse decades of decline. Amtrak retained approximately 184 of the 440 trains which had run the day before. To operate these trains, Amtrak inherited a fleet of 300 locomotives (electric and diesel) and 1,190 passenger cars, most of which dated from the 1940s–1950s.

Amtrak acquired the Turboliners with multiple goals in mind. The Turboliners were expected to cost less to operate than a comparable diesel locomotive with conventional cars while having a higher operating speed, though this would be constrained by track conditions. Amtrak also hoped that introducing new equipment would generate favorable publicity. Two years into its existence, Amtrak was fighting the perception that it was making "cosmetic changes to hand-me-down equipment". New gas turbine trainsets could change that perception.

The late 1960s and early 1970s saw several countries experimenting with gas turbine trains. The UAC TurboTrain had been in revenue service in the United States and Canada since 1968, with mixed results. British Rail began testing the APT-E in 1972; for a variety of reasons, British Rail did not pursue gas turbine propulsion.

The RTG (abbreviated from the French Rame à Turbine à Gaz, or gas turbine train) model was an Americanized version of the French ANF T 2000 RTG Turbotrain (related to the prototype precursor to the very first TGV trainset, the TGV 001). The RTGs used European-style couplers (buffers and turnbuckles) between their cars, because they were built in France by ANF for SNCF. Another change was the installation of top-mounted Nathan P1234A5 horns, a variation of the standard Nathan P5. Amtrak obtained a permanent waiver from the Federal Railroad Administration which exempted the RTGs from the buff strength requirement of 800,000 pounds-force (3,600 kN). The RTGs met a lower standard set by the International Union of Railways.

Each trainset consisted of two power cars (which included seating), two coaches and a bar/grill. The trains were powered by a pair of 1,140 horsepower (850 kW) Turbomeca Turmo III turbines. The cars rode on Creusot-Loire trucks. The bar/grill, located at the center of the trainset, had table seating for 24. The vestibules between the cars were partitioned by sliding doors: one at each end of the car, and a double set between the cars themselves. A passenger moving between cars thus had to pull open three sets of doors. The trains were not intended for use with high-level platforms, and there were no traps covering the steps down to platform level. A five-car trainset could be configured with up to 44 coach seats in the end power cars, 80 coach seats in the middle coaches and to up 60 seats in the snack bar for a maximum of 308 passengers.

Between 1985 and 1988, three RTG trainsets (numbered 64 to 69) were rebuilt at the Beech Grove Shops for the Empire Corridor in New York. Each trainset received an RTL-style nose and third rail capability for operation into Grand Central Terminal. A new 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) Turbomeca engine replaced the original. The rebuilt units were designated RTG-II.