Siemens to manufacture 83 Airo Intercity Trainsets for Amtrak: Design, Delivery, Acceptance

That's just how the cafe car is set up on midwest trains. half business, half cafe.

Second Generation RailJets have entered service on the OBB:

https://www.railroad.net/new-obb-railje ... l#p1643585

From one who has ridden "many a klick" in the "first generation", this "second gen" looks like "corners are being cut".

Amtrak could not consider this "second gen" as their vestibule doorways are level with Continental Europe's "higher level low level" platforms.

Maybe a strange question. But when the new Amtrak Airo is on Electrified territory and in E-mode why doens't require Amtrak that the trains has an operational speed of 135 mph or 150 mph instead of the current 125 mph. Now Amtrak is upgrading their track up to 160 mph.

SRich wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 8:19 am Maybe a strange question. But when the new Amtrak Airo is on Electrified territory and in E-mode why doens't require Amtrak that the trains has an operational speed of 135 mph or 150 mph instead of the current 125 mph. Now Amtrak is upgrading their track up to 160 mph.

Probably because the cost of a locomotive and trainset designed to operate at a maximum of 125 MPH is significantly lower than the cost of the same equipment designed to operate at 126+ MPH, and the lengths of the 126+ sections of NEC mean that cost isn't worth it (especially if you can bump someone who really cares about the difference in travel time between an Acela and NEC Regional to an Acela at a higher ticket price).

SRich wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 8:19 am Maybe a strange question. But when the new Amtrak Airo is on Electrified territory and in E-mode why doens't require Amtrak that the trains has an operational speed of 135 mph or 150 mph instead of the current 125 mph. Now Amtrak is upgrading their track up to 160 mph.

They'll max out at 135 mph by design but they'll be operating it at max 125 and reserver the higher speeds for Acela trians.

SRich wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 8:19 am Maybe a strange question. But when the new Amtrak Airo is on Electrified territory and in E-mode why doens't require Amtrak that the trains has an operational speed of 135 mph or 150 mph instead of the current 125 mph. Now Amtrak is upgrading their track up to 160 mph.

The answer why not is based on our USA FRA regulations. To actually go faster than 125 mph, not only do the tracks and signals need upgrades, so do the trains themselves. These regulations are based on bespoke specifications to faster than 125 mph, not on general specifications every train must meet to go 125 mph or slower. The Venture cars mets the general specifications and regulations, Acela and new Acela trains have bespoke specifications. The same type of bespoke specifications will also be needed for Texas Central, California HSR, and Brightline West trains.

They probably don't want to spend the money to make it more similar to the "premium" acela service.

electricron wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 4:07 pmTo actually go faster than 125 mph, not only do the tracks and signals need upgrades, so do the trains themselves. These regulations are based on bespoke specifications to faster than 125 mph,

This is exactly correct. Also, consider the corridors many of these trains will see: quagmire-like inner city trackage. It's a lot easier to upgrade 10-25mph running to 45+ to drop your travel time than upgrading 125 to 150mph. Consider the south side of Chicago, northwest Indiana, southwest Detroit, East Saint Louis... All kills the timekeeping of a midwest corridor train.

Correct. It is the slow sections that screw timekeeping. Increasing max speeds above 125 is a whole other ball gamer.

Average speed that counts, not top speed.

Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2024 6:10 pm This is exactly correct. Also, consider the corridors many of these trains will see: quagmire-like inner city trackage. It's a lot easier to upgrade 10-25mph running to 45+ to drop your travel time than upgrading 125 to 150mph. Consider the south side of Chicago, northwest Indiana, southwest Detroit, East Saint Louis... All kills the timekeeping of a midwest corridor train.

Consider Baltimore's B&P Tunnel, which has a 30 mph speed limit through it. Replacing it with the FD Tunnel will speed it up as it'll be designed for 100 mph, and thus the decelleration/accelleration areas would be in the tunnels itself instead of just south of the tunnel... which makes rebuilding West Baltimore to have high platforms make even *more* sense.

David Benton wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 2:59 am Average speed that counts, not top speed.

I know. So to travel from BOS to NYP, route 231 miles in 3 hours, the train would have to average 77 mph. That seems possible but never accomplished. Maybe it makes more sense to worry less about 160 mph on short stretches and put more money into eliminating the slow sections.

BTW UA TurboTrain schedule:
August 1970 - 3 hr. 44 min. - NYP - BOS
June 1969 - 3 hr. 39 min. - NYP - BBY
UA TurboTrain average speed was 61.1 mph

It absolutely would make more sense, particularly the slow sections through Connecticut. Whether or not the state will ever allow that to happen is another story.

(Improving Shore Line East frequencies and extending it to WLY/KIN/PVD while building a new, faster, more direct main line for Regionals and Acelas seems like the best compromise to me, but it doesn't seem a likely proposition.)

We are definitely getting off-topic here, but that section of the corridor is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise. Building a new ROW in that area is just not feasible land-wise and NIMBY-wise. Rhode Island needs to get their act together on electrification and run their own service PVD-WLY. SLE can be extended to MYS and WLY when the high level platforms are worked out.

The long-term solution is to leave commuter/regional rail as well as some Regionals on this section, but move the majority of the service to an inland ROW, either north from NHV to SPG and then east to Boston, or a new ROW from HFD to PVD.

As far as sea level rise is concerned, the elephant in the room is New York City itself.