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

ChesterValley wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2024 12:18 pm At this point the time savings will be from not having rolling stock that is actively falling apart using parts from cannibalized trains

..Like a prom dress made from carpet remnants.

I dislike the term "power car". It's not a car, it's a locomotive. It has a cab, traction motors, machinery to provide power to traction motors, directional orientation, and no prospect of providing any revenue space or passenger services. It can be uncoupled and moved to other trains, albeit by shop forces only.

It reminds me of people trying to act smart by using big or novel words to describe the same thing.

The Brits tried this decades ago when some genius decided the HST 125 (class 43) was actually a train of DMU's that so happened to be 8 intermediate blind trailers bracketed by two single-end-cab-powered cars with no coach seats. Uhhhh noooooooooo... it's two locomotives top-and-tailing eight coaches and a diner.

Tadman wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 11:13 am I dislike the term "power car". It's not a car, it's a locomotive. It has a cab, traction motors, machinery to provide power to traction motors, directional orientation, and no prospect of providing any revenue space or passenger services. It can be uncoupled and moved to other trains, albeit by shop forces only.

Power car is Amtrak's own parlance

I think its been used for quite a while longer than Acela has been around. The 41-class on BR was known as a power car in 1972. The TGV001 was also known as a power car in 1969.

KP2022 is back tonight, County - Ham. Based on the brief traction motor sound during the running brake test (radio report) it's Avelia Liberty and not a Charger.

KP2022 was out last night but I have no idea what kind of train it was.

Tadman wrote:I think its been used for quite a while longer than Acela has been around. The 41-class on BR was known as a power car in 1972. The TGV001 was also known as a power car in 1969.

I didn't mean Amtrak invented it, just that Amtrak uses that term.

Tadman wrote:I think its been used for quite a while longer than Acela has been around. The 41-class on BR was known as a power car in 1972. The TGV001 was also known as a power car in 1969.

Longer than that - the original 1936 Zephyrs had power cars, not locomotives.

The differentiator to me is power cars are permanently coupled to the trainset, while locomotives have couplers...

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And the power car looks like the passenger cars with cab. A locomotive is of a different design to the passenger cars.
The class 44 's and hst sets were a spin off from the aborted APT project. the Apt had the power cars in the centre of the train , with cab cars with passengers ata each end. the Hst 125 moved the power to the end cab cars , and excluded passengers.

Look like T&E training for the new sets will start after the first of the year so I would say these things are still on target for service March/April.

8th Notch wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2024 11:28 am Look like T&E training for the new sets will start after the first of the year so I would say these things are still on target for service March/April.

How will they be qualified. Will it be on the break in trips to qualify the various train sets for full MAX speeds? Will the break in be for 1000 miles as Caltrain did? What sections of track will the T&E need to qualify on?

west point wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2024 2:18 pm How will they be qualified. Will it be on the break in trips to qualify the various train sets for full MAX speeds? Will the break in be for 1000 miles as Caltrain did? What sections of track will the T&E need to qualify on?

There is no new territory qualification for T&E, it's running where the current Acela already runs. It's a two day class, the odds that it will be more than a long walk around are low.

Know the crew are qualified on parts they normally operate. However, Most are either north or south of NYP. That being in mind will they have to qualify running at 160 MPH? There are not too many sections already qualified for 160/

west point wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2024 5:58 pm Know the crew are qualified on parts they normally operate. However, Most are either north or south of NYP. That being in mind will they have to qualify running at 160 MPH? There are not too many sections already qualified for 160/

No, there was certainly no qualification for running 150 in NJ when that started, it was just placed into the timetable and trains started doing it. Engineers do have to have some seat time to get signed off, although I don't believe there's a specific speed.

CNJGeep wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2024 5:27 pm

west point wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2024 2:18 pm How will they be qualified. Will it be on the break in trips to qualify the various train sets for full MAX speeds? Will the break in be for 1000 miles as Caltrain did? What sections of track will the T&E need to qualify on?

There is no new territory qualification for T&E, it's running where the current Acela already runs. It's a two day class, the odds that it will be more than a long walk around are low.

I believe the new equipment will be subject to the new modified training requirements. I know when Amtrak started operating the M8s in SLE service, every engineer qualified on the equipment needed to operate 2 trips over the current territory with a DSLE before being signed off. I’m not sure how far along they are in rolling out the sim at various crew bases, but I’m sure they will have them operating sooner than later.

Rumor floating around saying five sets will be put in service starting early April. 5 sets in Philly, 1 in DC (Ivy City, training), and 1 in Boston.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 7:03 pm Rumor floating around saying five sets will be put in service starting early April. 5 sets in Philly, 1 in DC (Ivy City, training), and 1 in Boston.

Pending FRA approval… I think this may have been pushed back to the end of April already.