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

So it shouldn't be too late for interior adjustments.

Running at night ... Notice how everything just blurs together.

Take a look at this one in Buffalo ... Nice slow roll by ... Notice how much space is saved with the vestibule sitting on the trucks.

Notice compared to this video (0:22) of the Acela that there aren't any side by side vestibules in the Avelia Liberty. Acela also has vestibules on both ends of the cafe car which Avelia avoids completely with an inline service door on the cafe. Never quite realized just how much space was wasted on the Acela with doors ... I suppose this is an example of the famous FRA "rolling bank vault" crash standards.

This one taken on the curve at Overbrook Station West Philadelphia has the classic "endless line of cars" visual from 0:30-0:35 when for a brief period the passenger cars stretch endlessly through the picture.

I actually like the design but does anyone know why in George’s video all the doors are white except the last door which is red - why red?

That's the FirstClass car.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:57 pm That's the FirstClass car.

They even got that wrong. The more or less accepted standard for First Class is Yellow. Red is usually used for food service cars.

RRspatch wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:15 am

gokeefe wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:57 pm That's the FirstClass car.

They even got that wrong. The more or less accepted standard for First Class is Yellow. Red is usually used for food service cars.

Where? Not in America.

I think it's kind of a "red carpet" touch. I get it.

Yellow doesn't exude first class to me at all. A nice purple or burgundy would look regal.

It's the Euro standard, but familiarity here is very low with that standard. See linked pic: https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/c ... ity125.jpg

The yellow stripe above the windows on the first two cars means first class, the red stripe on car three is the diner, etc...

It's applied with some consistency, but not total. On LNER trains, a red stripe is used below the windows to denote first, not yellow. Transport For Wales does not use a stripe at all, nor does Caledonian Sleeper or Great Western. I can't recall DB or SNCF using one, either.

Most of the time trains across the pond have a diagram at the station denoting the position of the business class or first class car, and most days the diagram is right.

Some sort of business class sign would be most helpful on Amtrak corridor trains where the placement is erratic and passengers are being force-marched by station attendents, or left to their own devices.

I feel like we have 32 pages of discussion of complaints about cosmetics. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the traffic, but... and I'm no fan of orange. I'd prefer woodland camo

That's what I'm talking about....

UP 3593 "Desert Victory".

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:38 am I feel like we have 32 pages of discussion of complaints about cosmetics. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the traffic, but... and I'm no fan of orange. I'd prefer woodland camo

Well ... At least we haven't departed for Fantasyland Station yet with questions about Acela extensions to PGH.

Here's the difference in seating ... Acela: 304 Avelia Liberty: 386. That's an 82 seat difference and a 26.9% increase in capacity. That's easily the capacity of a regional jet (or two).

At 20 departures daily from WAS this would equal 1,640 additional seats. Assuming 15 departures on the weekend that would mean a total of 10,660 per week, or 554,320 per year. Multiply by two for arrivals and you get 1,108,640 additional seats per year. I think we are all rightly assuming that at least some of the WAS-NYP regionals will be replaced by Acela departures but even then you still end up with probably 800K+ new riders just at WAS alone.

Those are fall out of your seat kinds of numbers and they are very very real. I would have to check the revenue implications but it makes me wonder if Amtrak will have so much cash that they will be able to afford to fund the NEC capital accounts on their own.

TBF, if the average revenue-per-seat doesn't fall with this new order, clearly Amtrak didn't order enough trains