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

Anderson managed to do the one thing that would make Amtrak politically untouchable. He eliminated the deficits. If you want to look for a case study on how to grind the operation down to nothing check the Warrington years with the Mail & Express initiative or the Carter administration with the route cuts made that eliminated much of the route structure in the American heartland. Both of those periods clearly represented eras of decline for Amtrak. I doubt very much that any railroad historian would look back at Anderson's period as a "decline" for Amtrak. The foodservice shuffles are a mere footnote when compared to everything else that Anderson has been doing.

Avelia Liberty is probably "Exhibit A". Anyone who really wanted to kill Amtrak would never allow that train to be built. There would be endless change orders and "inspections" that nitpicked one thing or another. We have yet to see anything like this emerge. In fact quite the opposite Anderson's tenure has seen the emergence of the first two trainsets into the public eye and the recent award of a refurbishment contract for the maintenance facilities.

I get what you're saying, but I think this era has done a great deal of harm as well.

Probably around 1990, give or take, Sam Schwartz (AKA Gridlock Sam) invited me (I knew him when I was a Manhattan Community Board member) to a NYC infrastructure conference at the Cooper Union. One of the speakers was the super obese Chair of the Port Authority. He got up and spoke about a proposal for a real 'train to the plane' for NYC, for JFK. He said NO ONE would ever want to take a train with their luggage to the airport. Obviously ignoring that NYC was one of the few cities that didn't currently have a viable solution for that. The fact that this guy went EVERYWHERE by limo may have had something to do with his opposition.

Years later, PA decided to do one anyway. They were shown how they could make a truly useful one by reactivating the abandoned train lines from the Sunnyside NY area to the JFK area, connecting it first to Penn, and later, via ESA, to GCT. Would have been a direct train from either, and would have meant rebuilding a line, not trying to devise a new ROW via the centerline of the Van Wyck expressway. It would have been immensely useful and probably very popular. Instead PA went with a Jamaica Station to JFK, extremely expensively, with a painful connection either by super crowded subway or LIRR train, a 2 fare solution. At first I couldn't figure out why. I later concluded they had 2 reasons. 1. To prove the point that hardly anyone would use it (something still somewhat true today from what I've seen, because it is a truly painful way to do this, especially if you have luggage), and 2. to make sure that friends of friends made as much money as possible off the mess. And I still remember how the sloppiness of the PA and contractors killed one of the 'drivers' during testing.

I get the impression today that maybe by building the new train sets that there are like motives. Friends of friends make money, and they try to make it enough mediocre to prove that people should really fly even in the NEC. I hope I'm wrong. But if they make it uncomfortable with continued lousy food, it would never get the patronage it needs. And give them excuses to privatize it.

I can assure you as someone that has actually worked with Amtrak on some level that you are indeed wrong. I fully respect and understand the concerns especially coming from the perspective that you had with New York City, the Port Authority and the Air Train. I realize that the things that go on with those types of projects in New York are often as bad if not worse than what we all imagine.

It's worth noting that Anderson's tenure saw the return of foodservice to the Silver Star due to savings from the new operations. I agree and understand that a lot of people here don't consider the new service much good at all but it's still more than what was the running before.

Every single change I've seen with Avelia Liberty is one that improves conditions for passengers while also adding handsomely to Amtrak's bottom line. There isn't a single aspect of the Avelia trainsets that is a step down from current conditions aboard the Acela.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:15 pmThere isn't a single aspect of the Avelia trainsets that is a step down from current conditions aboard the Acela.

You don't feel that forcing people to ride facing backwards and removing seating from the cafe is a step down?

There are some backwards seats already. The seating on the cafe is little more than a couple of very uncomfortable stools.

Just to refresh my memory of the configuration I went back and checked the interior photos of both the new (actual mockups and not just renderings) and the old.

FirstClass appears to be virtually the same configuration. BusinessClass appears to have more backwards riding seats but I would note it's tough to say for sure because the mock-up does not appear to be a full length cabin. That being said the renderings appear to show a 50/50 split.

I agree with the thought that this is a change that is likely to be significant to passengers. On the other hand there will also be reserved seating which should allow passengers to select seats with the direction of travel in mind.

So, "Yes" I remain of the opinion that the Avelia trainsets are singular improvements over Acela. I very much look forward to riding them in the future.

Up close Avelia Liberty at PHL. For whatever reason the mismatch between the power car and the coaches doesn't appear to be as prominent as it appears on other videos.

I really enjoyed the contrast with the Amfleet trainset directly across the platform.

One of the things I dislike about Acela is the lack of seating in the cafe car. Of course, there is nothing I like about the cafe car. And yes, I have gotten rather cynical.

This walk through also shows the location of the USB ports and somewhat tighter shots of detail.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:03 pm This walk through also shows the location of the USB ports and somewhat tighter shots of detail.

I'm sorry, but it really pisses me off to watch that walkthrough and see in a spanking new clean sheet design they can't figure out how to match up the seats and windows. It's only a mockup but I am assuming the placement of the seats and windows is accurate. I really hope I am wrong.

Having seats that have no windows is just inconsiderate of your passengers in my opinion. Such a simple thing that should have been a high priority IMHO. I guess we will have to wait and see.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:12 pm Anderson managed to do the one thing that would make Amtrak politically untouchable. He eliminated the deficits. ...I doubt very much that any railroad historian would look back at Anderson's period as a "decline" for Amtrak. The foodservice shuffles are a mere footnote when compared to everything else that Anderson has been doing.

Agreed completely and it confirms my "optics matter more than anything" hunch.

Consider your average 60 Minutes or GMA viewer. They hear Amtrak "breaks even" and they move on to the next outrage of the day. Who cares if it's funny money or not GAAP or above-rail, there is certainly something juicier to get worked up over than the nuances of train accountings. Leave that to the accountants!

Recall if you will, the NS/Amtrak twitter war of maybe a year ago. It would've been a lot juicier had Amtrak clean hands. Doing things like eliminating origination delays would go a long way, not just in terms of getting one train out on time, but in terms of better relations with host railroads which might then encourage better over-road timekeeping and dispatching.

Great videos, geokeefe. Thanks for sharing.

I agree with you. I also sped by the Acela II at 30th Street Station yesterday and it didn't look that bad.

My gripe now is the color scheme: teal-ish and orange-ish aren't classy, subdued colors. I like the current Acela and current Amtrak long-distance locomotive colors: gray and blue-ish, which I find stylish.

But a livery can be easily fixed.

When is the next set due?

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:57 am When is the next set due?

I don't have a date but I saw a comment somewhere from an Alstom employee that work was proceeding on the third set. I assume that the coronavirus shutdown has likely delayed testing out at Pueblo. I wonder how far they can proceed on production while waiting for testing results.

As someone who finds looking out the window to be a highlight of train travel, I will definitely try to avoid those seats that give you nothing but wall to stare at.

I like the option of looking out. BUt I'd also love to see the same window capability found in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner - that you turn a knob to darken the window per your preference. No dusty shades, blinds, curtains needed. But you'd have to split the windows per row to make that viable.

Sometime in Sept is the plan for the 3rd set to be ready at the factory.