Acela Replacement and Disposition Discussion

Freight conversion is interesting. Just like the Autotrain, I bet there is a market for highball freight. And running at passenger speeds would make slotting easier where passenger trains dominate. Perhaps the Acela, being overpowered could support freight weight better than converted conventional equipment. But the higher-than-normal maintenance costs that probably make this a fantasy.

What’s to stop Amtrak from offering such service with ACS-64s and V-II bags? AX-I has the 150/165 speed limit, but that isn’t enough advantage to justify keeping it out of retirement and using it as a freight container train.

Nothing except Amtrak is supposed to have a shortage of equipment and the Acela I's will be "fully depreciated" at some point. Yeah baggage car would require little or no conversion.

mtuandrew wrote:What’s to stop Amtrak from offering such service with ACS-64s and V-II bags? AX-I has the 150/165 speed limit, but that isn’t enough advantage to justify keeping it out of retirement and using it as a freight container train.

it could, but it assumes available Sprinters and V2 bags to operate above and beyond passenger needs, or purchase of same, as opposed to the seeming certainty that AX-1 trainsets will be idled. The bigger issue for AX-1 as a freight vehicle is presumably the lack of large doors to move freight on and off quickly and easily.

Since Amtrak will hold them in storage for a while,the Acela-I's might see use a surge fleet during certain Holidays.
Believe 1 set will be used as a test bed for interior configurations and as a high speed Track Geo train.

This is not likely but ----------- Anderson's seemly desire for fixed consist trains might mean there would be at least a trial for using the AC-1s for some regional trains. Seating changes and Tilt might also be deactivated or removed ?

The Acela’s cannot cover a Regional schedule since they do not have traps for low level boarding.

8th Notch wrote:The Acela’s cannot cover a Regional schedule since they do not have traps for low level boarding.

I mean the only low level NEC stations I can think of are Cornwells Heights, Newark, and Aberdeen which all have limited service. If you kept them to certain trains it shouldn't be a problem.

silverliner266 wrote:

8th Notch wrote:The Acela’s cannot cover a Regional schedule since they do not have traps for low level boarding.

I mean the only low level NEC stations I can think of are Cornwells Heights, Newark, and Aberdeen which all have limited service. If you kept them to certain trains it shouldn't be a problem.

You forgot pretty much all the Virginia stations, Mystic, and Westerly. With AX-2, and with Virginia's desire to expand service, I expect in not long almost all NER services will be running to Virginia, which is very AX-1 unfriendly.

Also - for now, some Springfield shuttle stations are low-level, but that won't be true for long.

andrewjw wrote: You forgot pretty much all the Virginia stations, Mystic, and Westerly. With AX-2, and with Virginia's desire to expand service, I expect in not long almost all NER services will be running to Virginia, which is very AX-1 unfriendly.

My understanding is that there will need to be a new Long Bridge before "almost all" Regionals go to Virginia. By the time that happens we will probably be on the third generation of Acela equipment.

superstar wrote:

andrewjw wrote: You forgot pretty much all the Virginia stations, Mystic, and Westerly. With AX-2, and with Virginia's desire to expand service, I expect in not long almost all NER services will be running to Virginia, which is very AX-1 unfriendly.

My understanding is that there will need to be a new Long Bridge before "almost all" Regionals go to Virginia. By the time that happens we will probably be on the third generation of Acela equipment.

You misunderstand. I am not suggesting that Amtrak will run the present number of Regionals to Virginia. I am suggesting that AX-2 will offer such frequent service that most NER trains will be replaced by AX-2 trains, and that the only remaining NER trains will be the Springfield and Virginia services.

andrewjw wrote:

silverliner266 wrote:

8th Notch wrote:The Acela’s cannot cover a Regional schedule since they do not have traps for low level boarding.

I mean the only low level NEC stations I can think of are Cornwells Heights, Newark, and Aberdeen which all have limited service. If you kept them to certain trains it shouldn't be a problem.

You forgot pretty much all the Virginia stations, Mystic, and Westerly. With AX-2, and with Virginia's desire to expand service, I expect in not long almost all NER services will be running to Virginia, which is very AX-1 unfriendly.

Also - for now, some Springfield shuttle stations are low-level, but that won't be true for long.

I was assuming they would be limited to runs in electrified territory. Unless I'm reading the timetable wrong, a decent number of trains only do WAS to NYP or BOS.

silverliner266 wrote: I was assuming they would be limited to runs in electrified territory. Unless I'm reading the timetable wrong, a decent number of trains only do WAS to NYP or BOS.

Currently, yes. However, once the Acela 2 is present, the plan is to increase the frequency of Acela services. I expect that some Northeast Regional services will be cut due to being redundant to an Acela (2) train. So the number of trains within the WAS-BOS segment with no low-level stops may become minimal.

andrewjw: good point, and a smart business move. That would leave the through Springfield and Virginia Regionals (of which many overlap), the Keystone, and the medium and long-distance trains. Fits with Amtrak’s newfound reticence toward private cars, since there won’t be many trains capable of handling them.

I still think they’re missing the NEC economy market, but Amtrak must have decided they would rather be Delta than Southwest.

mtuandrew wrote:andrewjw: good point, and a smart business move. That would leave the through Springfield and Virginia Regionals (of which many overlap), the Keystone, and the medium and long-distance trains. Fits with Amtrak’s newfound reticence toward private cars, since there won’t be many trains capable of handling them.

I still think they’re missing the NEC economy market, but Amtrak must have decided they would rather be Delta than Southwest.

Given a fixed capacity under the Hudson, and sold-out Acela trains, it's no surprise that Amtrak would want to 'upgrade' many NER trains to the more expensive brand, if they think they can still fill them.

There will also still be plenty of Regional-equivalent trains - Vermonter, Palmetto, Carolinian, Springfield train, and 6x Virginia trains, by my count - in addition to Keystones.

Also, if you haven't checked recently, you might note that Southwest is no longer the 'economy' carrier, but probably a good analogy for the Regionals. Spirit and Frontier would correspond more to the bus than the train.