Has anyone noticed if the other Surfliners have more cars on them? I heard a rumor that Amtrak needed more seats and changing one of the Surfliners back to Amfleet/Horizon equipment would allow them to take one set of equipment and use it to add cars to other trains and for spare equipment/maintenance.

If a trainset is out of service due to derailment/grade crossing collision - or if trains are jammed up behind a derailment or other service disruption, strange things can happen. Amtrak normally doesn't have a spare trainset ready to go out of LA. They will sometimes grab a few Superliners to get a train out of LA on schedule, or sometimes turn trains back at Oceanside to try to get back in step. There is a specific equipment rotation to allow each trainset to return to 8th Street for cleaning and repairs. The LSA also stays with "their" Cafe car until it returns back to the yard and their inventory is accounted for.