Railroad Forums
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Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 5:44 am Messrs. BRAC (Dude) and BLE (Acela 150), don't mean to talk politics, but I'd be thinking of a Jan 20, 2025 commencement with Joe, after coming to his senses and withdraws or is defeated, making a farewell trip on such to Wilmington.What does a Presidential election have to do with new equipment? Nothing.
dizelinr wrote: ↑Thu May 18, 2023 11:28 pm I don't like repeating misinformation but I keep hearing someone on a Facebook group claim that the problems / issues being experienced during testing of the the Acela 2 sets in Pueblo, CO are so severe that the entire program is likely to be scrapped and Amtrak will be terminated as a result. This person clearly has a bone to pick with Amtrak and it seems to border on conspiracy theory territory but I just want to ask if anyone has heard of any absolute showstoppers in terms of the testing process?I haven't heard of any need for modified caternary contact arms. If they caught the problem in Pueblo, CO with the test equipment, they would of fixed it by the time they tested it out on the NEC, and they have run the equipment on the NEC at various speeds... plus have at least 4 sets of equipment stored in DC and Philly Penn Coach yards. If it was so severe to terminate after Pueblo, they wouldn't have the extra equipment made, let alone delivered.
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My understanding is that the primary issue is with the interface between the Acela 2's catenary and the NEC's vintage overhead lines requiring Alstom to test out a modified design for the contact arms. Is that generally correct?
Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 6:55 am Messrs. Diesel and Wolf, no wonder I checked out of Facebook three weeks after signing up during '11 (I got a 15yo kid to come over here and get me completely and totally "out of it").I'm reminded of Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music's "About" section. As part of it's main guiding rules, #3 states: Social media knows absolutely nothing. About anything. Never get your education from YouTube comments or Facebook memes. Your friends are morons.
From what I've heard, it has become even more of a cesspool since then.
RandallW wrote: ↑Sat May 20, 2023 5:13 am Assuming a Regional train has 7 Amfleet I coaches, the Regional has 504 seats available, while the Avelia Liberties have only 386 seats (82 more than an Acela Express, btw), 8 regional schedules are diesel hauled on part of their trip, and not all Regional stations between Boston and Washington have high platforms so I think using Liberties for some Regional services would complicate both Regional fleet management, customer experiences, and schedules.Last year, the NEC Regionals were largely full... or at least, the Acela AL's would not be able to fill demand that the regional has. Plus, Acela is a different class: High speed, limited stops, more elegant service. Which is why I see the Acela AL's more of an extra service until they fully replace the Acela Express.
