How? They barely managed to hobble through the Acela introduction and had to get two additional unplanned infusion of funds to get what we got. The situation has always been pretty miserable no matter how many billions get thrown at it. One had hoped that it would somehow be different this time around.
i'll have to take the "Over" on this one based on Amtraks Track Record!
It went down there Friday night/early Saturday morning. May have needed pit work.
News articles indicate it's a modified limited hang out for Alstom, not as bad as I was expecting. After buying Bombardier, it became the second largest rail manufacturer after CRRC. It's still losing money on Bombardier contracts, and needs some short term cash. So it will raise capital, which normally drives down the stock price, and sell some stuff.
And I just died laughing.It's time for another round of bonuses!
Plan B was Plan A.
The problem appears to be that Alstom apparently did not have a Plan B, and hubris is still carrying the day. According t reports I have seen from usually reliable sources, they refused all help from FRA and Amtrak to help them get their model to work. We don;t appear to be heading for a good outcome and it is primarily due to Alstom's bone headedness. Amtrak's role is in not monitoring the progress and flagging things early on and putting a stop to it. It appears to be within the realm of possibilities that between Amtrak and Alstom they will land up with 28 things that only run on electricity and that won't be able to operate any faster than the Airos. Meanwhile a lot of Popcorn will need to be dispensed among us sitting and watching this with dismay from the sidelines, as far as I can tell.And I just died laughing.
Plan B was Plan A.
Notwithstanding all that, for this particular order, it is Alstom that is the primary problem since they cannot get their train to operate consistent with the simulation model that they are trying to use to get it certified, or stated another way, get the simulation model to behave like the actual train. That is the primary holdup at present, and they have refused all offers of help from anyone. Additionally they have the requisite set of manufacturing quality issues, but that at present is not exactly holding up anything, since the design issues need to be resolved first.
I heard this and knew about it well and before the OIG report came out, I couldn't say anything publicly about it however.
And I just died laughing.
Plan B was Plan A.
You're both wrong! Here is the original plan, which is Amtrak's ultimate plan, and it hasn't failed since Thunderdome!
I think the core problem is that everyone forgot the old adage that "you fight a battle with the army that you have, not the one that you wish you had". Proven product in one environment takes just some of the uncertainty away, but it still is an unproven product in a vastly different environment until it is domesticated in the new environment. Currently we are observing serious problems in the last step. At the end of the day there always is a bit of black art aspect to Engineering as we Engineers have always know. Nothing really works even if it has worked elsewhere, until it has been tested and proven to work here.
