Fan Railer wrote:
Unless Alstom can sell their new creation with the proper crash equipment that meets the new FRA regs that are being drafted, that skimpy train will never run on the NEC in the near future.
I wouldn't count out any trainset from not meeting regulations at this point. It looks like Amtrak is going to, if not outright be in the driver's seat regarding the new regulations, have a very hand in influencing it. Amtrak would largely be free to choose which trainset it wants and have the regulations conform to
that.
ThirdRail7 wrote:trainmaster611 wrote:ThirdRail7 wrote:Arlington wrote:
3) The Chase Maryland crash (fall 1987) is now a distant memory (it was fresh even in Clinton's day)
Even if we're to assume Gunpow is distant memory to the general public and politicians, Chatsworth isn't. The southern portion of the NEC is INFESTED with freight traffic, particularly after 9pm.
It may be an issue the FRA will not overlook.
And we all saw how spectacularly FRA standard equipment failed there. It even arguably compounded the problem. What would have prevented that accident is a more advanced signalling system which is precisely what the NEC has.
That may be true. However, the advance signaling of the NEC didn't prevent Chase, Hook, Portal, Gate, River, Ham, Chase 2 nor did the signals and ITCS prevent Niles.
So, they may take that into consideration.
We already know the FRA regulation equipment is useless so no amount of accidents would justify it. In any event, even the best signaling systems in America are pitiful by international standards. We should really be looking at European and Japanese signaling systems and safety standards to see how they avoid accidents.
Hawaiitiki wrote:What makes everybody here so confident that Amtrak will go for a Deutsche Bahn derivative as opposed to a TGV derivative as they did with the Acela? Both TGVs and ICE trains share alot of territory in Switzerland and the Benelux countries so they both seem to have similiar restrictions. I've ridden ICE trains and enjoyed the ride very much, but America seems to be on a Bilevel equipment binge, and only TGV offers something like that "off-the-shelf".
Others have already pointed out that they want an EMU. While that brings into play the AGV, that also eliminates any Talgo trainset. So the high speed EMU's that meet the speed requirement would be the Siemens Velaro, Alstom AGV, Bombardier Zefiro, and various Chinese shinkansen-derived trains. The Velaro has quickly captured a lot of the market for selling high speed trains overseas making it something of a world standard, but Shinkansen derivatives have also made some headway in Asia. The AGV has a loading height of 45" while the NEC platform height is 48". I don't know if it's possible to modify it to match the NEC but that might hurt its chances of being selected.
However, I do wonder what they intend to do about the curves in Connecticut, where you need a tilting train to go through at any significant speed.
