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  4. 26
  5. Superliner (railcar)

Events on February 26 in history

Superliner (railcar)
1979Feb, 26

The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.

The Superliner is a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United States. Amtrak ordered the cars to replace older single-level cars on its long-distance trains in the Western United States. The design was based on the Budd Hi-Level vehicles, employed by the Santa Fe Railway on its El Capitan trains. Pullman-Standard built 284 cars, known as Superliner I, from 1975 to 1981; Bombardier Transportation built 195, known as Superliner II, from 1991 to 1996. The Superliner I cars were the last passenger cars built by Pullman.

Car types include coaches, dining cars, lounges, and sleeping cars. Most passenger spaces are on the upper level, which features a row of windows on both sides. The Sightseer Lounge observation cars have distinctive floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper level. Boarding is on the lower level; passengers climb up a center stairwell to reach the upper level.

The first Superliner I cars entered service in February 1979, with deliveries continuing through 1981. Amtrak assigned the cars to both long-distance and short-distance trains in the Western United States. The first permanent assignment, in October 1979, was to the Chicago–Seattle Empire Builder. Superliner II deliveries began in 1993; the additional cars enabled the retirement of the aging Hi-Level cars and the assignment of Superliners to trains in the Eastern United States. Tunnel clearances prevent their use on the Northeast Corridor.

References

  • Superliner (railcar)
  • Amtrak

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Events on 1979

  • 1Feb

    Ruhollah Khomeini

    Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.
  • 11Feb

    Ruhollah Khomeini

    The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
  • 16Mar

    People's Liberation Army

    Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ends the war.
  • 15Jul

    Malaise speech

    U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech".
  • 16Dec

    OPEC

    Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, which has an immediate, dramatic effect on the United States.

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