Acela Speeds

Tidbit from Trains:

The changes are necessary, Alstom officials say, to accommodate workers who will be building 28 new Avelia Liberty high-speed trainsets for operation on the Northeast Corridor.

The newspaper says the company is also working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Norfolk Southern to build a new track to accommodate testing the high-speed trainsets at up to 184 mph.

Can we get them to update a section of the Empire Route?

^ Where, physically, is the Army+NS test track supposed to be?

Link?

Excerpt:

In addition to the three buildings going up in short order, Alstom and its team of engineers will have to build a test track for the trains capable of speeds of 184 miles per hour. In the past several months, the company has consulted with the Army Corps of Engineers so they can build a bridge to carry tracks across the Canisteo River. Engineers received a note this week, alleging the Army Corps. was close to an approval.

Complicating matters, Alstom also needs to seek permission from Norfolk Southern to build the test tracks on property adjacent to their rail bed.

Norfolk Southern was said to have been “very supportive”, but they have asked for additional engineering details from Alstom.

Link: http://www.eveningtribune.com/news/2017 ... n-approved" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just checking Google Earth, there doesn't seem to be much tangent ROW in the area for 184 mph running! Also there are a lot of grade crossings in the area.

I suppose they could man the grade crossings with staff to safely close the grade crossing during each test.

I am having trouble believing they really are going to test at full speed in this area.

bostontrainguy wrote:

ApproachMedium wrote:Forget trying to move the track centers!

Wasn't that part of the original plan though?

I dont know who kept putting that in to the sitation, but the track centers were only changed at Midway, Adams, and Delco to accommodate the replacement switch panels.

So the Alstom fact sheet list the top speed at 186 mph. Testing is usually done at 5 - 10 mph higher so we are talking maybe 196 mph here. Where? Seriously in the Hornell area? This is going to be interesting.

Seriously though . . . Amtrak should ask Alstom to build a test track along the Empire Route somewhere that can actually be used for future revenue service. An additional track (or a major upgrade of a section of the existing track) should be considered. Testing is often done overnight anyway.

^ I was hoping they were thinking the long tangent stretch between Petersburg VA & Chesapeake (with Norfolk being a designated HSR market)

Surprise, it’s stage 1 of NYP-BUF high speed rail via Hornell

bostontrainguy wrote:Excerpt:

In addition to the three buildings going up in short order, Alstom and its team of engineers will have to build a test track for the trains capable of speeds of 184 miles per hour.

184 is an odd figure that I assume is just a result of an incorrect conversion of 300 kph, which is actually 186.416 mph.

Scrolling around Google maps, there look to be a number of tangent stretches on the Erie (now NS?) Near Hornell. Must be these.

Seems an odd thing to invest in given the longstanding practice of testing at the existing Pueblo, CO facility. I think Pueblo has a max of 165 mph, which may be part of the reason, but Alstom must be expecting this to be more than the one-off Acela order was, with Hornell being more than Barre, VT #2.

Interesting issue. Looks as if part of the problem is that TTCI is configured as a loop and doesn't have sufficiently long sections of tangent track. Although it would be nice to invest this money in the Empire Corridor a test track really should be isolated in order to minimize damage to existing service in the event of a malfunction that damages the rails or trackbed.

Would be nice to have the test track between Rochester and Buffalo, but gokeefe has an excellent point about it needing to be isolated. On that note, does GE still have such a track at Erie, and what kind of speeds does it support?

gokeefe wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote:Seems an odd thing to invest in given the longstanding practice of testing at the existing Pueblo, CO facility. I think Pueblo has a max of 165 mph, which may be part of the reason, but Alstom must be expecting this to be more than the one-off Acela order was, with Hornell being more than Barre, VT #2.

Interesting issue. Looks as if part of the problem is that TTCI is configured as a loop and doesn't have sufficiently long sections of tangent track. Although it would be nice to invest this money in the Empire Corridor a test track really should be isolated in order to minimize damage to existing service in the event of a malfunction that damages the rails or trackbed.

The NS line is not the empire corridor. so them doing it there is a line with no passenger service.