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  • Acela Disposition Discussion

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1574505  by Matt Johnson
 
I rode aboard the Acela today NYP to Boston and back, hit 150 mph on both runs, ran close to schedule, found the trains to be full (sold out in fact on the way up) and in good shape. The equipment certainly doesn't look or feel bad from a passenger perspective yet, tilt system seems to work well, but of course you want a high speed train to be in a state of good repair until the end, not retired because it's only a few runs from falling apart!
 #1574506  by photobug56
 
Only complaints I had of Acela a couple years ago; track north of DC was horrible, and the food selection made a McD Express look really good (as did the limited hours of operation).
 #1574509  by west point
 
Are some of our posters hoping that Amtrak will be overwhelmed with passenger demand that continues use of AX-1s is necessary ? That would be this poster's wish but only tooth fairy can make wishes come true.
 #1574519  by 8th Notch
 
Matt Johnson wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:07 pm I rode aboard the Acela today NYP to Boston and back, hit 150 mph on both runs, ran close to schedule, found the trains to be full (sold out in fact on the way up) and in good shape. The equipment certainly doesn't look or feel bad from a passenger perspective yet, tilt system seems to work well, but of course you want a high speed train to be in a state of good repair until the end, not retired because it's only a few runs from falling apart!

Doesn’t look or feel bad on the outside but they are really starting to show their age from an operating standpoint. There are some rumors floating around that Amtrak cannot restore full Acela service because some of the train sets sat around during the pandemic and are no longer in operating condition. I don’t know how true that is however I do think that some are in need of some TLC badly.
 #1574536  by Matt Johnson
 
west point wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 11:56 pm Are some of our posters hoping that Amtrak will be overwhelmed with passenger demand that continues use of AX-1s is necessary ? That would be this poster's wish but only tooth fairy can make wishes come true.
No, my hope is they continue for another couple of years as they have with their impeccable safety record and then are retired without incident when the new fleet takes over. But I'm curious about adaptive reuse, to use the en vogue term in the real estate business these days. If there is no case for rebuilding and repurposing the equipment, I do hope at least one set makes it to a museum.
 #1574540  by ApproachMedium
 
The trainsets that were parked for retirement during the pandemic in hopes of the new set coming out have all been put back in service as far as I know. There is no longer any sets stored in philly and the original set 2000-2002 that was first to go is def out there.
 #1574548  by rcthompson04
 
ApproachMedium wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:04 pm The trainsets that were parked for retirement during the pandemic in hopes of the new set coming out have all been put back in service as far as I know. There is no longer any sets stored in philly and the original set 2000-2002 that was first to go is def out there.
Correct. There were no Acelas sitting at Philadelphia 30th Street as of this week.
 #1574578  by BandA
 
How are they going to handle the transition period when both Acela-1 & Acela-2 are active?

A couple years ago I suggested that Acela-1s go somewhere with lower safety standards & labor costs, like Mexico. I almost had my head chopped off with some of the comments! Still hate to see shiny stainless-steel trains that are apparently decently maintained get crushed. Maybe they can be used as houses or restaurants.
 #1574593  by MattW
 
I would say the transition period they would have the A1s serve specific, select trains. I believe the AIIs are lighter and faster so ironically, it might make more sense to keep them on the Acela schedules with more stops once more of the fleet comes online. Though as I typed that last sentence, I began to think that it might be better if the first few AIIs are put on the "premier" services, namely the ones leaving WAS and NYP at the rush hours, maybe the ones that stop at Trenton, to make the politicos happy.
 #1574615  by STrRedWolf
 
MattW wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 12:22 pm I would say the transition period they would have the A1s serve specific, select trains. I believe the AIIs are lighter and faster so ironically, it might make more sense to keep them on the Acela schedules with more stops once more of the fleet comes online. Though as I typed that last sentence, I began to think that it might be better if the first few AIIs are put on the "premier" services, namely the ones leaving WAS and NYP at the rush hours, maybe the ones that stop at Trenton, to make the politicos happy.
The question now is... can the A2's make DC to NYC in 2 hours? (Of course, I doubt it, it's 2h30m)
 #1574622  by NY&LB
 
The question now is... can the A2's make DC to NYC in 2 hours? (Of course, I doubt it, it's 2h30m)
2H 30M is the same as the Penn Central Non Stop Metroliners of 1969!

That was 52 years ago folks.....before a lot of you were even born

Progress???????
 #1574623  by electricron
 
STrRedWolf wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:01 pm The question now is... can the A2's make DC to NYC in 2 hours? (Of course, I doubt it, it's 2h30m)
Per Amtrak train schedules, it's 226 rail miles between NYC and DC.
The new trains would have to average 113 mph to go that far in 2 hours.
Math = 226 / 2 = 113
The existing Acela trains take 2.9 hours with regular stops, averaging 78 mph, or 2.5 hours non stop averaging 90 mph.
Math = 226 / 2.9 = 78 ; 226 / 2.5 = 90
Somehow Amtrak needs to increase the average speeds of the non stop trains by 23 mph or regular stop trains by 35 mph to travel that distance in 2 hours.
Good luck with that!
 #1574633  by MattW
 
I think the only way to do that now would be no stops WAS-NYP and "give them the railroad" as in nothing less than a clear signal as much as possible and run only the highest speed tracks.
 #1574663  by Ridgefielder
 
daybeers wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:27 am
Rockingham Racer wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:50 pm Wait until we get maglev going between DC and Baltimore.
Absolutely not.
Washington to Baltimore is ~35 miles. Why on earth would anyone spend however-many-billions on a maglev to cover that distance?
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