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

I heard on the grapevine (Acela150) that crew training begins this month. I guess the "spring 2025" date is still a go. But now the replies above are sowing doubt in me.

Finally, just finishing off this "nightly testing tracking" project though it remains to be seen if other trainsets need the same testing.

Nightly testing of Avelia Liberty between County and Ham came to a halt in the beginning of September 2024 except for a single run last month. Captures of KP2022's radio traffic are when the train is near the turnaround point in New Brunswick.

Night 12/18 - morning 12/19 (2024)

9:50PM - KP2022 is ready west; dispatcher could not provide absolute block to KP2022
9:57PM - dispatcher to KP2022: "here we go"
10:31PM - dispatcher needs briefing with KP2022 (new dispatcher shift)
10:43PM - "good runner, KP" (traction motor sound came through radio making it clear it wasn't a Charger)
11:32PM - KP2022 ready west, good runner, etc.
(NJT #3742 departs later since November so no complaints from them this time)
12:16AM - KP2022 clear signal, good brake test, good runner

JuniusLivonius wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 2:16 am I heard on the grapevine (Acela150) that crew training begins this month. I guess the "spring 2025" date is still a go. But now the replies above are sowing doubt in me.

This jives with what I'm hearing from crews in my area.

JuniusLivonius wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 2:16 am I heard on the grapevine (Acela150) that crew training begins this month. I guess the "spring 2025" date is still a go. But now the replies above are sowing doubt in me.

Finally, just finishing off this "nightly testing tracking" project though it remains to be seen if other trainsets need the same testing.

Nightly testing of Avelia Liberty between County and Ham came to a halt in the beginning of September 2024 except for a single run last month. Captures of KP2022's radio traffic are when the train is near the turnaround point in New Brunswick.

Night 12/18 - morning 12/19 (2024)

9:50PM - KP2022 is ready west; dispatcher could not provide absolute block to KP2022
9:57PM - dispatcher to KP2022: "here we go"
10:31PM - dispatcher needs briefing with KP2022 (new dispatcher shift)
10:43PM - "good runner, KP" (traction motor sound came through radio making it clear it wasn't a Charger)
11:32PM - KP2022 ready west, good runner, etc.
(NJT #3742 departs later since November so no complaints from them this time)
12:16AM - KP2022 clear signal, good brake test, good runner

One of the sets should be out within the next week or so doing e brake testing from 160 mph. Amtrak is very optimistic for service starting by the end of April and should be as the current sets are having failures at an alarming rate now… While a portion of the required training for T&E is set to begin next week, we can’t really put any weight into this anticipated revenue service dates until the FRA signs off.

Well, that rules out the notion that Joe Biden will be riding an A2 outta town next Monday like Truman did....

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Truman, who the Notable Scholars rated as our sixth best president, left Wash Jan 20, 1953 in line Pullman space on the B&O National Limited.

The MP did offer him a Business Car for the Stl to Independence segment of his trip home.

With Trump, effective 20JAN0701Z, Commander in Chief, Joe will be lucky to get a C-37 for his government paid ride home to KILG.

Admin note
This is not the Presidential Transportation thread. Please stay on topic.

Just pointing out a fact. These were delivered for testing prior to the 2020 election. With one of the most visible Amtrak supporters in the WH, Amtram still couldn't get them in service before his term ended?

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Who cares?

Do you want Amtrak to be accepting subpar equipment just to score some useless political points?

I mean, either way you'd find a way to throw a useless snipe at them. Either they are rushing equipment out just to supposedly give Biden a "win" or they "can't get their act together" because they are taking their time before putting these into service.

Never mind the fact that it's Alstom, not Amtrak, that's on the hook for the delivery timelines and ensuring that they have an actual QA process for stuff that leaves their factories.

Given the direction our nation's political discourse has gone over the last ten years, it's safe to say the political impact of thirty-odd trains running exclusively through the Democratic Party's largest interstate stronghold is negligible.

Metroliner was rushed into service before LBJ left office and it was a 20 year disaster. I'm okay with them not pulling this off. There were other opportunities for Biden to make a big splash for Amtrak in his 8 years as VP and 4 as President and he didnt' take those, either. No train to Scranton - that idea has been talked about for years and its his hometown.

lensovet wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 8:25 pm
Never mind the fact that it's Alstom, not Amtrak, that's on the hook for the delivery timelines and ensuring that they have an actual QA process for stuff that leaves their factories.

At this point, I am not faulting Amtrak/Alstom fully over the delays. There seems to be major discrepancies over some of the benchmarks that the FRA wants to see when it comes to modeling and physical testing… The new train sets have met and even exceeded some of the required performance requirements in a number of test runs, however the FRA seems adamant on the modeling reflecting similar parameters (some of which they can’t seem to be clear on).

lensovet wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 8:25 pm I mean, either way you'd find a way to throw a useless snipe at them. Either they are rushing equipment out just to supposedly give Biden a "win" or they "can't get their act together" because they are taking their time before putting these into service.

Never mind the fact that it's Alstom, not Amtrak, that's on the hook for the delivery timelines and ensuring that they have an actual QA process for stuff that leaves their factories.

Alstom is definitely at fault for missing deadlines, as was CAF. But this is also two failed rolling stock projects in a row for Amtrak. They've proven incapable of having enough controls in place to hold vendors accountable along the way.

Fortunately, Siemens had their act together enough that there was little to have to hold them accountable for. The Sprinters were in service in just 3.5 years from order to operations, and the Chargers were right around 3 years from order to operations.

You are comparing apples to oranges by referring to single locomotive being put into service vs entire trainset.

Also I'm pretty sure I've heard on this very board that ALL of Amtrak's procurements are garbage and that the Siemens orders were also full of issues.

There are definitely some harsh opinions on the Siemens equipment, but at least they're in service. Unlike the Alstoms.

Amtrak's procurement got two locomotive orders right, and two other orders horribly wrong.

It's entirely likely the only reason they were successful on the Sprinter and ALC42 orders is because Siemens is used to dealing with companies and agencies that are competent, and assumed Amtrak would hold them as accountable as Brighline or the multistate consortium do over contractual deadlines....

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