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

Has anyone seen any videos of testing at Pueblo?

no video has been released yet.

I think that it actually says how important looks are when there's that many pages about cosmetics.

That said, a 26.9% (to quote Governor Cuomo, I don't know a .9 person is nothing to sneeze at.
And bringing in Harrisburg, I think Amtrak needs to figure out how to expand there.

Acela has proven folks re willing to pay for a faster, better looking ride. Let's make it more available where we can.

bdawe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:58 pm TBF, if the average revenue-per-seat doesn't fall with this new order, clearly Amtrak didn't order enough trains

This is something I've been wondering about as well. Acela has had nearly flat growth for a very long time now almost certainly due to near constant sellouts. Amtrak has been making tweaks here and there around the edges of the schedule. As memory serves they've managed to eke out about 1% growth every year for quite some time. Given the fixed supply of trainsets this implies ever so slightly higher utilization rates every year. Numbers that a 1950s passenger traffic manager would die for. Seems simple at face value but it's actually an extraordinary example of revenue and yield management with a level of precision that has few precedents in North American passenger rail service.

Although it seems unlikely I have to admit to being curious if some kind of really wild "sold out as soon as it's on sale" scenario plays out. I'm sure there will be passengers who won't pay any attention at all. One day there will just be more departures available for a certain travel date and they won't sell out as quickly as they usually do.

On the other hand ... I can easily imagine a situation where the constantly sold out status deters travelers who don't know far ahead of time about their trips. The real headline that is magic for Amtrak might not be so much "new trainsets" as "more seats at more times" i.e. "more convenient than ever".

That is a message that Amtrak hasn't been able to convey about Acela in many years. I think the market is ready for it and when word gets out I think there is a legitimate chance we could see a veritable "stampede to the platform".

Thanks George; I remember that engine! As a Gulf War vet, I appreciate that! I'm sure as a fellow vet, you do as well.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:28 pm This is something I've been wondering about as well. Acela has had nearly flat growth for a very long time now almost certainly due to near constant sellouts. Amtrak has been making tweaks here and there around the edges of the schedule. As memory serves they've managed to eke out about 1% growth every year for quite some time. Given the fixed supply of trainsets this implies ever so slightly higher utilization rates every year.

When I first heard about Amtrak adding an Acela non-stop express and planning to add more, my first response was "where are these sets coming from?." Did they really have these extra sets sitting around for 20 years and didn't utilize them? Just curious.

This is a good example of a "tweak" to utilization. Others maybe able to speak to the exact details but in essence they found they were able to get an extra run out of existing equipment. There are many other factors which may or may not have made this possible in the past.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:18 am Thanks George; I remember that engine! As a Gulf War vet, I appreciate that! I'm sure as a fellow vet, you do as well.

Amen to that. My thanks to Tadman for bringing it up.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:46 am

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:18 am Thanks George; I remember that engine! As a Gulf War vet, I appreciate that! I'm sure as a fellow vet, you do as well.

Amen to that. My thanks to Tadman for bringing it up.

Wish I could take a little more credit but I just did an image search for "camo train" or something. I had completely forgotten about the camo SD40.

bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:56 am

gokeefe wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:28 pm This is something I've been wondering about as well. Acela has had nearly flat growth for a very long time now almost certainly due to near constant sellouts. Amtrak has been making tweaks here and there around the edges of the schedule. As memory serves they've managed to eke out about 1% growth every year for quite some time. Given the fixed supply of trainsets this implies ever so slightly higher utilization rates every year.

When I first heard about Amtrak adding an Acela non-stop express and planning to add more, my first response was "where are these sets coming from?." Did they really have these extra sets sitting around for 20 years and didn't utilize them? Just curious.

I think ThirdRail7 addressed this earlier in the thread, but as I recall, by turning one of the trains into a non-stop in each direction, they were essentially able to get an extra turn out of the existing trains.
So the flip side, they could increase ridership. The downside (which wasn't considered an issue at the time) was additional wear and tear on the units. But since they were supposed to be replaced with the Avelias in short order, that made sense.
Of course the Avelias are delayed I think due to COVID-19, but then again the Acelas aren't running as much either so it all nets out.

Greg Moore wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:23 pmOf course the Avelias are delayed I think due to COVID-19, but then again the Acelas aren't running as much either so it all nets out.

The only delay I've read about so far is 90 days and that was already the case prior to COVID. To their credit Alstom seemed horrified by it.

gokeefe, I polled around. Some people may care about the aesthetics of their train, but if aesthetics matter, it's pretty much only on the inside.

So I think you're right: the ugly exteriors won't really matter. At least not much.

they never had problem with amfleet and slab sided AEM-7's ?

Personally, I find Amfleet sleek looking.

I don’t care for Amfleet but it’s not ugly. I don’t find AEM-7s ugly either. They’re utilitarian.