Jan 30, 2010 | News & Press
Riverside, CA – Complete Coach Works has been providing rail rehab and accident repair work for many years now with recent contracts to install wheelchair lifts in San Diego’s Red Trolley, perform numerous accident repair work for LACMTA’s Metrolink, as well as providing interior rehab work for AMTRAK. Until now all of this work has been performed at the customers facility, but that is about to change. In considering the various elements to do rail work onsite, the most important item was rail spurs to accommodate the cars on property.
This Challenge was recently conquered with the design of “portable” spurs that can be put in place when rail cars are on-site, but also quickly and efficiently removed and stored when the space is required for traditional buses.
A special thanks to Marco Campos, Ronald Masterfield, Kenneth McCown, and Cesar Medrano whose hard work and long hours ensured that the portable spurs would be ready on time. Thanks also to Amos Perez, Pascual Flores Garcia, Anthony Harper, Luis Lozano, and Joseph Roldan Jr. who worked together as a seamless team to assemble the pieces and fabricate our portable spurs which are now in work area 5 and made it possible for us to bring in two San Francisco MUNI Light Rail Vehicles which are now in the process of having their accident damage repaired. Thanks to this hard working group of people we have embarked on yet another exciting chapter of Complete Coach Works’ history.
Jan 9, 2010 | News & Press
Riverside, Ca – Marking another milestone in Complete Coach Works’ 25 year history was the arrival on Wednesday October 28th, of the first of two San Francisco MUNI Light Rail Vehicles which were recently awarded to Complete Coach Works for accident repair work.
While working on rail cars is not new to Complete Coach Works, whose list of existing rail customers includes AMTRAK, Metro Link, San Diego’s Red Trolley and Bombardier, rehabing rail cars on property is, and requried specialty trucks to do the hauling, as well as modifications to the facility to accommodate the vehicles once they arrived.
Innovative approaches to all of our projects is one our many strengths and this project was no exception, requiring us to develop a portable rail spur that can be set in place in one of our many work centers when required, but removed and stored when the work area is needed for tranditional rubber wheeled buses. this innovative approach provides added flexibility by giving us the option to quickly and easily convert a work center to accommodate rail cars.
Our work on the SF MUNI railcars involves body and structural work to repair accident damage these cars sustained during service with one of the railcars requiring an all new door and articulating step system.
David Ramirez and his crew, featuring Kenneth McCown providing welding talent as well as structural and body expertise, are already busy with initial tear down and prep work.
Once all of the work has been completed the new door system and articulating steps will need to be carefully tested and adjusted to insure safe and reliable service. Since these trains run on 600 volts, special power supply systems had to be integrated into our test procedures and these systems are ready to go when testing times arrives.
Since San Francisco MUNI is one of America’s oldest public transit agencies having been founded in 1912, and today is responsible for transporting over 200 million passengers per year, it is a real honor for Complete Coach Works to have been awarded this work.
Apr 23, 2009 | News & Press
Riverside CA, Complete Coach Works announced today the delivery of the three rail cars of a 127 car rehab for AMTRAK/CalTrain.
The project includes a mix of passenger cars domiciled in both Los Angeles and Oakland California, all of which will be stripped to bare walls and floors, and have all structural issues with the floors and walls corrected. Once all structural concerns have been
corrected the cars will be finished off with new carpet and rubberized flooring, newly upholstered seats, and new wainscoting on the walls all of which combine to give the cars a fresh new look and feel.
Before Interior Rehab:
During Interior Rehab:
After Interior Rehab:
“We have been working on various rail projects for the last several years and we are especially proud to have been selected by AMTRAK and CalTrain for this important project. Providing their riders with a fresh clean and comfortable riding experience is an important element of their overall strategy to retain existing riders while pursuing new riders” stated Kevin O’Brien, General Sales Manager of Complete Coach Works. “We are very excited about being part of that important mission.”
Complete Coach Works is the nations largest supplier of remanufactured transportation vehicles, repowers, emission upgrades and wheelchair lift retrofits. Located on a modern ten-acre facility in Riverside CA, Complete Coach Works brings nearly 25 years of expertise dedicated to serving the Transit Industry.
Amtrak partners with the State of California to operate these high-frequency, state-supported trains:
- Capitol Corridor (San Jose-Oakland-Sacramento-Auburn) 7 daily round trips San Jose-Oakland, 16 round trips Oakland-Sacramento (11 on weekends) with one extending to Auburn.
- Pacific Surfliner (San Diego-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo) 11 daily round trips San Diego-Los Angeles (12 on weekends), 5 round trips Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-Goleta, with2 extending to San Luis Obispo.
- San Joaquins (Oakland/Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield, with motorcoach connections to Los Angeles) 4 daily round trips Bakersfield-Oakland, 2 daily round trips Bakersfield-Sacramento.
Total California Station Usage: 11,866,636
Selected Highlights
Amtrak’s corridors in California are among the busiest in the system.Ridership figures include:
- The Pacific Surfliner (San Diego-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo)—the 2nd-busiest corridor in the U.S. had 2,898,859 riders in FY08. This was 7.1% higher than FY07 and 83.7% higher than FY00.
- The Capitol Corridor (San Jose-Oakland-Sacramento-Auburn)—the 3rd-busiest corridor in the country had 1,693,850 riders. This was 16.8% higher than FY07 and 120.6% higher than FY00.
- The San Joaquins (Bakersfield-Oakland/Sacramento)—the 6th-busiest corridor in the country had 949,611 riders. This was 18.0% higher than FY07 and 40.5% higher than FY00.
California has the highest Amtrak usage of any state in the country.
