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Superliner

🇺🇸 United States ·built by Pullman Company· from 1979· class of American double-deck long distance passenger cars

🚃 carriage / wagon
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
  1. 1. Auto Train lounge: Matthew Neleigh Gummigoof at en.wikipedia· CC BY 2.5
  2. 2. AMTK 322 with the San Francisco Zephyr at Cape Horn, CA in November 1980 - 2 Photos (30567817685): Roger Puta· Public domain
  3. 3. Amtrak Superliner Dining Car: Sea Cow· CC BY-SA 4.0
  4. 4. Amtrak Superliner bedroom: Ben Schumin· CC BY-SA 3.0
  5. 5. Amtrak superliner on Saluki (cropped): Rckania· CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. 6. Superliner Diaphragm 2022: WriterArtistCoder· CC BY-SA 4.0
  7. 7. Superliner II roomette in daytime configuration: Ben Schumin· CC BY-SA 3.0
  8. 8. Superliner I Lounge upper: Matthew Neleigh Gummigoof· CC BY 2.5
  9. 9. Superliner cars under construction, 1977: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
  10. 10. Superliner transdorm (cropped): Charles Fulton· CC BY-SA 2.0
Read about it on Wikipedia ↗
Superliner, photo 1 of 10
1/10 Matthew Neleigh Gummigoof at en.wikipedia· CC BY 2.5

what is it?

The Superliner is a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United States. Amtrak commissioned 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 cars used by the Santa Fe Railway on its El Capitan trains.

who runs it

Amtrak

base stats

  • speed 161 km/htop speed
  • built 479made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

  • First built 47 years ago, in 1979.
  • Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
  • At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
  • 25.9 m long: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.

carriage / wagon: Unpowered passenger coaches or freight wagons, pulled by a locomotive.

spec sheet

built
1979
in service from
1979
number built
479
kind
carriage / wagon
origin
🇺🇸 United States
builders
Pullman Company, ALSTOM Transportation Germany, Bombardier, Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company
operators
Amtrak
top speed
161 km/h
power
—
gauge
1,435 mm standard gauge
length
25.9 m

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.

family

Surfliner

Sources: Wikidata Q728866, Wikipedia: Superliner (railcar) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.

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