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

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1598450  by Greg Moore
 
west point wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 7:54 pm It will be interesting how Amtrak will handle the 304 vs 378 capacity difference. Mixing in the AX-1s subbing for an AX-2 will take some thought. Maybe the old airline denied boarding procedure?
Most likely, won't happen.

My guess is Amtrak will pretty much ensure they have enough IIs on property to protect ones that are out for maintenance with another Acela II.

Then of course the Is will be turned into razor blades.
 #1598476  by JimBoylan
 
west point wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 7:54 pmIt will be interesting how Amtrak will handle the 304 vs 378 capacity difference. Mixing in the AX-1s subbing for an AX-2 will take some thought. Maybe the old airline denied boarding procedure?
Greg Moore wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 8:13 pmMost likely, won't happen.
My guess is Amtrak will pretty much ensure they have enough IIs on property to protect ones that are out for maintenance with another Acela II.
Then of course the Is will be turned into razor blades.
Amtrak has the same problem with the new Viewliner sleepers, which have 1 less room than the old ones, to make space for the community bathrooms.
This happened to me early in Amtrak's age when I had a reservation for Parlor Car seat 17 in a full Parlor Car and a Parlor Club Car - Snack Bar Coach with only 16 1st Class seats was substituted. Luckily for me, the passenger with a reservation for seat 16 was a no show. I'm not sure what happened to the people who had reserved the Drawing Room.
 #1598516  by STrRedWolf
 
bostontrainguy wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 6:11 pm
Matt Johnson wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 12:51 pm Except there are 9 TGV length cars vs 6 87 ft long cars on Acela I, so more than half the restrooms.
Yeah maybe not quite half but realize that the capacity of the ACELA 1 is 304 and the ACELA II is 378. So a big reduction in bathrooms with a big addition in passengers.
A1 sets are 6 passenger cars and 2 power cars. A2 sets are 9 passenger cars (extendable to 12) and 2 power cars. I think most of that extra seating is due to more cars to make up the numbers, despite them being shorter.
 #1598606  by PHLSpecial
 
daybeers wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 9:58 pm At least one Acela has been delayed, cancelled, or annulled nearly every day for the past couple months, it's annoying as hell.
I believe these Acela's was built to only last 20 years. We have reached that point. I wonder if Amtrak has enough spare parts to last until 2024.
 #1598617  by MACTRAXX
 
PHLSpecial wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 10:24 am
daybeers wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 9:58 pm At least one Acela has been delayed, cancelled, or annulled nearly every day for the past couple months, it's annoying as hell.
I believe these Acela's was built to only last 20 years. We have reached that point. I wonder if Amtrak has enough spare parts to last until 2024.
PHL - I disagree - Rail equipment constructed of stainless steel such as the Acela equipment is built for
a 30 to 40 year lifespan in service...The Acela power units (locomotives) and cars have millions of miles on them
since they were placed into service back around the year 2000 - Amtrak has decided to replace the Acela One
equipment instead of giving the Acela One fleet a mid-life overhaul that would eventually be necessary...

A specialized passenger equipment type that WAS built with what turned out to be an even shorter lifespan
was the United Aircraft Turbotrains that were built for the US DOT (conveyed to Amtrak) used primarily on
New York-Boston services - and CN Rail (conveyed to VIA Rail Canada) for the Montreal-Toronto route...
The UA Turbotrains date from the late 1960s/early 1970s era for the two corridor service applications...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAC_TurboTrain

These experimental turbine trains were built with a 15 to 20 year lifespan - only some of the VIA fleet came
close in service to that number...These were fixed consist trains that had high fuel consumption as an example
of their limitations in high-speed services for both Amtrak and VIA...

Back in the late 1970s Amtrak had stored (two?) sets of UA Turbotrains at 30th Street Station for either future
service or resale (NOT mentioned in the Wikipedia UA Turbotrain page) that were in bad condition and ended
up being scrapped - no UA Turbotrains ended up being preserved for historical purposes in either the US or
Canada in the end...MACTRAXX
Last edited by MACTRAXX on Mon May 30, 2022 12:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.
 #1598624  by bostontrainguy
 
Well catching on fire didn't help either. But I will never forget my trip from New York to Boston sitting in the front dome right behind the engineer. It was a never to be duplicated experience.

Plan was for 3 hr 15 min New York - Boston but 3 hr 39 mins was actual schedule in the 60s beating most Acelas today.

Video I have never seen before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aihn_4bPibs
 #1598663  by STrRedWolf
 
PHLSpecial wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 10:24 am
daybeers wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 9:58 pm At least one Acela has been delayed, cancelled, or annulled nearly every day for the past couple months, it's annoying as hell.
I believe these Acela's was built to only last 20 years. We have reached that point. I wonder if Amtrak has enough spare parts to last until 2024.
Can those Acela's be hauled by an external engine? I mean, just some rework on those HHP-8's cooling and they'd fit right in.
 #1598680  by STrRedWolf
 
8th Notch wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 10:20 pm No, this has been brought up before.
This means someone screwed up the specifications of the Acela I's, and the replacements (which *CAN* be hauled by an external engine) are way overdue.
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