Acela Disposition Discussion

frequentflyer wrote:[ Again, Amtrak's actions are telling, they want to RETIRE the trains and be done with them and apparently BBD.

I have loved my rides on the Acela, its nice ride,and its America's first, "high speed train" (at least to the public and media). It looks fast and cool.................But apparently its too expensive or mx intensive even for even lowly regional work.

Oue group generally agrees but who knows what is going to happen? If demand for AM-1s and-2s on whtever routes should increase Amtrak might need the -1s for seats on the NEC. One person here noted that if regional ridership should increase much above forecast in the time line of AX2s entering service the nine car regional might need so many more cars that some regionals would become -1s . No likely ? Probably not but as Amtrak management we would not preclude using AX-1s since Gateway bores will not be completed that limits more Amtrak trains thru NYP !

Final thought . The AX-1s could be combined into one train set with 12 cars or so and just a power car on either end. That train would
certainly provide many seats for any train but be unable to run AX-2 speeds . Maintenance two less power cars ! Of course there is still the length limit of trains at BOS !

dowlingm wrote:

frequentflyer wrote:Why keep a fleet that will be a mx headache. BBD is not going to continue support. One cannot abuse the Acela like you can with five Amfleets and a Sprinter.

do you have explicit knowledge of whether BBD will continue support? Look at what they are doing with MARC's HHP-8s.

For me I would think Keystone Acela a good idea if something could be worked out with PA and BBD, but there would have to be a sense that the fatigue life of the sets would be long enough to bother doing so.

What is being done with the HHP-8s is set up by a firm in Florida. BBD is not explicitly supporting them otherwise. The Acela HST is now owned by Amtrak and very likely will be disposed of after they start to get new sets in service. They are a massive cost headache and they have a huge impact on track destruction. The ride quality is very poor even after undergoing a major overhaul in 2008. The acela sets each have an impact analysis device that rides onboard that reports track problems. I believe its since been abandoned because the acela power cars are a horrible judge of the track with their heavy bottoming out and the trailing power cars constantly getting horrible truck hunting thru interlockings.

The best thing amtrak can do is 1:1 dispose of a set the moment a new set is put in service. Part of the huge cleaning out of Bear DE was to enable amtrak to park the sets as they go out, keep some for spare parts on hand till all others are out of service and then scrap them all together.

east point wrote:Final thought . The AX-1s could be combined into one train set with 12 cars or so and just a power car on either end. That train would
certainly provide many seats for any train but be unable to run AX-2 speeds . Maintenance two less power cars ! Of course there is still the length limit of trains at BOS !

NO acela sets will be combined! Not one of the Acela S&I shops is set up to handle a trainset longer than they already are. The sets MUST stay within their current lengths to get in and out of the shop as when the train arrives overhead power is isolated and grounded and the trains are worked on off ground power until any high voltage work needs to be done that requires the overhead. This space limitation is also for derails, switches, etc for blue flag protection of the workers.

ApproachMedium wrote: The best thing amtrak can do is 1:1 dispose of a set the moment a new set is put in service. Part of the huge cleaning out of Bear DE was to enable amtrak to park the sets as they go out, keep some for spare parts on hand till all others are out of service and then scrap them all together.

I would hope maybe at least one set makes it to a museum.

Matt Johnson wrote:I would hope maybe at least one set makes it to a museum.

RRMPA seems like a great recipient, considering that they already have an AEM-7 and an E60MA. It’ll be another six years at least until they get one, but still. (Same with a few Amfleets.)

If not a whole set, at least 1 power car,1 coach,1 café,1 biz class and the track geo car.

I know the rated maximum speed of the ACS-64 is 125 mph, and I remember reading that they’re tested for a 10% overspeed. Do they have the guts to get all the way from 137 mph to 150 mph with a single car (the original AX geometry car) in tow, under close FRA supervision per run?

Whether or not it could, its design speed is listed as 135 mph (217 km/hr) and I doubt Amtrak would try to operate it beyond that.

mtuandrew wrote:RRMPA seems like a great recipient, considering that they already have an AEM-7 and an E60MA. It’ll be another six years at least until they get one, but still. (Same with a few Amfleets.)

An Acela trainset would be fitting side by side with Metroliner 860, depicting evolution of high speed rail.

Put a Turboliner next to it, and you have a good graveyard of dead ends in HSR...

mtuandrew wrote:I know the rated maximum speed of the ACS-64 is 125 mph, and I remember reading that they’re tested for a 10% overspeed. Do they have the guts to get all the way from 137 mph to 150 mph with a single car (the original AX geometry car) in tow, under close FRA supervision per run?

As far as I know the top speed that the ACS and SC44 did together on the corridor is about 143mph.

Since emerging-market countries (is that the politically correct term?) now have high-speed trains, and countries like the US have typically sold their old trains to emerging-market countries in the past, perhaps the Acelas could be sold to a railroad in an emerging-market country?

SouthernRailway wrote:Since emerging-market countries (is that the politically correct term?) now have high-speed trains, and countries like the US have typically sold their old trains to emerging-market countries in the past, perhaps the Acelas could be sold to a railroad in an emerging-market country?

Most of these "emerging" countries have better equipment than the U.S.

Probably too heavy for most international HSR systems. Russia perhaps , but politically impossible??