Should we say "good riddance" to the Acela 1s?

[NE933]

I'm conflicted about the disposal of 20 year old trains, yet, see Amtrak's point of view that these are heavy and difficult to maintain machines. Not to mmention they run slower than hoped for because of the extra 4 inches, the locomotives' performance on curves, etc.

 

[MARC Rider]

Some museum should keep at least one set in operating condition and run excusions.

 

[jis]

Some museum should keep at least one set in operating condition and run excusions.

The problem is not too many museums have high voltage catenary readily available.

 

[MARC Rider]

The problem is not too many museums have high voltage catenary readily available.

They could keep it at the Railroad Museum of Pennylvania and have a Strasburg RR. steam engine tow it up the the Keystone Line, which has catenary. That would be a sight, seein an Acela being pulled by a steamer!

 

[cirdan]

They could keep it at the Railroad Museum of Pennylvania and have a Strasburg RR. steam engine tow it up the the Keystone Line, which has catenary. That would be a sight, seein an Acela being pulled by a steamer!

Yes, this happens in the UK, with a number of veteran electric locomotives being kept at the Barrow Hill roundhouse, some of them in operational and certified condition. The inconvenience is that they have to be towed somewhere, even for testing, but it's doable.

That said, seeing nobody even managed to keep an AEM-7 as an operational engine, I don't think there is a case to keep an Acela set.

 

[Steve4031]

IMHO it would make sense to keep using the Acelas as a replacement for some of the regional trains until the new Siemens trains arrive.

 

[jis]

They could keep it at the Railroad Museum of Pennylvania and have a Strasburg RR. steam engine tow it up the the Keystone Line, which has catenary. That would be a sight, seein an Acela being pulled by a steamer!

It would bring new heft to the name Paradise PA where the two meet

IMHO it would make sense to keep using the Acelas as a replacement for some of the regional trains until the new Siemens trains arrive.

Technically when the lease ends they revert back to Alstom. Then a separate lease extension will need to be negotiated and paid for to bring them back into service. That would be over and above their allegedly high maintenance cost.

 

[Brian Battuello]

Not to mention keeping two sets of maintenance manuals, tools and spare parts, trained mechanics, qualified engineers and conductors, etc etc.

I'm thinking back to when Amtrak inherited rolling stock from over a dozen railroads. Equipment was a lot simpler back then.

 

[Brian Battuello]

I was commuting weekly from Stamford CT to Boston when the Acela was introduced. For years I'd been watching them rebuild much of the track between New Haven and Boston, and add overhead power. Anybody else remember stopping in New Haven for 30 minutes to change engines?

So a few weeks after they started, I conned my corporate travel into buying a business class seat. I was in the cafe overhearing Amtrak and Alstrom employees "discussing" the quality of the ride. In the (short) 150mph stretch in RI, the car was shaking like a blender. I had recently ridden on the Thalys 300kph train in Holland, and it had been relatively smooth. The Amtrak guys were telling the Alstom guys that there was something wrong with the train. The Alstrom guys said it was a problem with the track. The Amtrak guys said we just completely rebuilt the track to your specifications.

They are probably still arguing about it...

 

[Steve4031]

Jis, as always you have the facts which clarifies why decisions are made. I understand why Amtrak would not renew it's lease on the Acelas.

 

[Septa9739]

I say good riddance to the Acela because it is sort of the zenith of the catchy headlines over effective service mentality that has become a mantra at Amtrak. How much money was spent retrofitting shops, upgrading tracks to 150 mph while key bridges, tunnels, and other key chokepoints were left unaddressed? The reality is that the practical advantages over the Metroliner were extremely limited. I would have preferred the effort that has been spent on the Acela have been spent working toward Regionals every 30 minutes from WAS-NYP, or development of feeder corridors in the Northeast. I think the market bears this out too. For at least the last decade, ridership growth on the NER has been much faster than on the Acela on a percentage and absolute basis. Actually, the Acela was pretty stagnant from 2012-2019 and recovery has been less than pleasing. Rationally I think the Acela brought a lot of bark to the system, but no bite. I have also spent a lot of time waiting for them to clear over the years.

That said there is something kind of cool about the trainsets themselves and they did bring a lot of coins into the farebox all while ushering in a new era in American railroading. So, maybe, just maybe they are due a quiet tip of the hat.

 

[Agent]

Maybe one set can be saved to put on display at a future presidential library (or maybe it can be the library ).

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Maybe one set can be saved to put on display at a future presidential library (or maybe it can be the library ).

Maybe put the rolling library in Scranton, PA.

 

[CaptPete 43]

In 2014 I took a rail tour of the DPRK (North Korea) from Pyongyang to Chongjin round trip. This was a private tour run by Koryo tours. We had 2 cars of the European type, compartments for 4 converting into 4 beds, a dining car with freshly cooked food, and a crew car. The tracks were in far better condition than many of the lines in the USA where passenger trains travel. This pertains only to this line.

 

[jis]

That Sleeper looks suspiciously Russian.

 

[CaptPete 43]

There was one Russian and one Chinese, both of the same general design.

The food was all cooked from scratch.

Further DPRK beer is pretty good stuff, unlike ROK beer all of which is terrible.

The DPRK is the most controlled environment one could imagine.

 

[railiner]

They could keep it at the Railroad Museum of Pennylvania and have a Strasburg RR. steam engine tow it up the the Keystone Line, which has catenary. That would be a sight, seein an Acela being pulled by a steamer!

Like the time the Strasburg hauled an Amtrak GG-1 from Leaman Place to its shop in Strasburg to use its drop table for a wheel repair?

 

[Maglev]

I think the Acelas are remarkably un-aerodynamic, with those boxes on the roof at both ends of the cars. The power cars aren't bad; maybe one of them should end up in a museum.

 

[BlazeRip]

I had heard they were overweight due to hardening for potential impacts with freight. I wonder how the new Acela trains compare with respect to crash worthiness?

 

[jis]

I had heard they were overweight due to hardening for potential impacts with freight. I wonder how the new Acela trains compare with respect to crash worthiness?

They are FRA Tier III crash worthiness compliant They have Collission Energy Management like all high speed trains in the world, many running far faster than the Acelas ever will, instead of being monolithic bricks.

 

[NE933]

How many tons (where one ton equals 2,000 pounds) does an Acela 1 locomotive weigh? For comparison, how about a Seimens ASC64?

 

[GDRRiley]

How many tons (where one ton equals 2,000 pounds) does an Acela 1 locomotive weigh? For comparison, how about a Seimens ASC64?

Power cars are 204,000lbs vs an ACS-64 at 215,000. The main difference is in coaches where amfleets weight ~105-110,000lbs and ventures 112,000lbs, the Acela coaches weight 137-142,000lbs. the ACS-64 makes more power at 5kw with short terms at 6.4kw vs 4.6KW per power car. Ironically now Seimens makes a 145mph Vectron and Viaggio Comfort cars.

I had heard they were overweight due to hardening for potential impacts with freight. I wonder how the new Acela trains compare with respect to crash worthiness?

FRA T3 which normally only allows 125mph in mixed traffic but the NEC has 160mph wavers. The valaro Novas to be used by brightline west are T3. CAHSR will get T3 rolling stock as well

 

[allanorn]

That said, seeing nobody even managed to keep an AEM-7 as an operational engine, I don't think there is a case to keep an Acela set.

Caltrain would like to say, "hold my beer" - but we'll see what they do with the one or two they bought for overhead wire testing.

 

[GDRRiley]

Caltrain would like to say, "hold my beer" - but we'll see what they do with the one or two they bought for overhead wire testing.

I wouldn't be surprised if they get used for Caltrain, CAHSR and maybe some other testing programs till they finally get retired in the mid 2030s.

 

[Cal]

Caltrain would like to say, "hold my beer" - but we'll see what they do with the one or two they bought for overhead wire testing.

I've heard that they had/are having some serious troubles with getting it to work.