Acela II (Alstom Avelia Liberty): Design, Production, Delivery, Acceptance

Railjunkie wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 10:53 pm I work with a engineer that was qualified on that territory. He told me in his personal experience he had placed numerous trains in emergency there due to the fact that the crossing is unprotected and slow moving farm equipment and tractor trailers frequent that crossing. As for Mr. Wolf's opinion of grade separation for under 110mph, I have had close calls at as fast as 110mph and as slow as 15mph. Fatalities at 75mph and 60mph(2) so until you fix stupid it wont matter.

Can we cut out "grade separation for under 110mph?" I'm for "grade separation over 80mph" which is more reasonable and "more crossing protection". I know there's still going to be morons who get in front of a train no matter what speed... or smack into the side of a train when it's parked. If they're going to go around a gate and ignore signs blaring, then I hope they survive the accident so the rail companies can grab that sweet sweet car insurance money.

Mod Note: Let’s get back to our regularly scheduled ALMOST Acela II discussion.

nomis wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 2:23 pm Mod Note: Let’s get back to our regularly scheduled ALMOST Acela II discussion.

Oh I'm wondering how the testing is going, TBH.

Grade Crossing Safety discussion: amtrak-grade-crossing-safety-t4334-150.html

NGEC update via Discord. NGEC Slides

These trains melt in North American, Northeast Corridor sun.
What do you think would happen to them in Southern California or Nevada sun?

The "Unaveliables" (nice, Tad!) may be getting here just in time, even if it's not until early '25.

I'm just waiting for weekend daytime tests at track speed on the NEC between Baltimore and Washington...

I know that at least one unit has been south of Baltimore in the past month but was it authorized to run at track speed?

One thing we have missed out on here in the states is the nicknaming different engines or trains. In the UK they are arden nicknamers. Class 66 are "sheds" and Class 90 are "skodas". They even argue about the nicknames, I once had a guy get huffy with me for referring to a 90 as a Skoda as " thats disrespectful".

I nominate the F40 as "Escalades" as they look similar.

On the Keystone:

One Set coming to Boston on the 26th Supposedly

New Rochelle, Boston-bound:

So since the news of these things being cleared for additional testing, they've taken one of the six(?) sets in Philly out for a couple of overnight high speed runs through Princeton Junction and one trip up to Boston and back. Seems they still spend most of their time sitting in the yard. Not sure if no news is good news or bad news at this point.

It's been quiet on the Avelia's, for those of us unfamiliar with the new engine qualification process what are the next steps post model validation? Is it just a qualification of the equipment and crews? In aviation I'm used to seeing a type cert for airworthiness one for the FAA and one for the Military, is there an analog for the FRA/DOT? I am partially curious about the process, but I also want to know where to look for signs of progress.