Acela is getting cut

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/08/06/amtrak.acela/index.html
go here. It seems that The Acela engines are breakin down so much that htye have to cut some routes. WHen I was in Washington, I asked a mechanic there if he liked them. He replied "no, they breakdown all the time and they picked this peice of junk rather then the euro ones". I then asked if i was the EuroStar and he said, yes. Well ACela is breaking down so its gonna hurt Amtrak. Should have gottan the Eurostars. Oh and I am back from Colorado

Andrew Bane
CEO AM Road
"the Road of Freedom"

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RE: Acela is getting cut, Lone_Gunman_SG, Aug-06-02, 07:25 PM, (1) RE: Acela is getting cut, Transcon, Aug-06-02, 07:28 PM, (2) RE: Acela is getting cut, georgi55, Aug-06-02, 07:51 PM, (3) RE: Acela is getting cut, jtr1962, Aug-06-02, 09:58 PM, (4) RE: Acela is getting cut, chucksc, Aug-06-02, 10:00 PM, (5) RE: Acela is getting cut, jtr1962, Aug-07-02, 00:37 AM, (7) RE: Acela is getting cut, chucksc, Aug-07-02, 08:20 AM, (10) RE: Acela is getting cut, kevarc, Aug-07-02, 02:50 PM, (14) RE: Acela is getting cut, chucksc, Aug-07-02, 04:07 PM, (15) RE: Acela is getting cut, georgi55, Aug-06-02, 10:32 PM, (6) RE: Acela is getting cut, smallspy, Aug-07-02, 00:51 AM, (8) RE: Acela is getting cut, georgi55, Aug-07-02, 00:54 AM, (9) RE: Acela is getting cut, chucksc, Aug-07-02, 08:22 AM, (11) RE: Acela is getting cut, AM_ROAD, Aug-07-02, 02:17 PM, (12) RE: Acela is getting cut, kevarc, Aug-07-02, 02:41 PM, (13) RE: Acela is getting cut, Matt Vince, Aug-07-02, 08:16 PM, (16)

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Maybe its because its american. Doesnt that say alot about our high speed designs!

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Thanks for posting this, my parents are watching Crossfire on CNN right now, and I have a habit of taking glances on the "news ticker" on the bottom of the screen. I glanced once and I saw "...Acela Express Train." And I was like, What? What's wrong with the Acela??? So thanks for posting this, instead of guessing what happened!------------------------------------------------------------I'll never let go of the railroad that inspired me to involved with trains, the Union Pacific!

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Are they nuts?? 46,000 out of 60,000 Amtrak passengers a day are on NEC. If they are to reduce service, they will loose even more passengers.
Either fix the "Crashela" if it's possible to which I don't think it is or get new Europan or Japanese trains.
US has such a good railraod system and electric disels. Why can't they advance in high speed electric too?*for "Crashela" look here http://www.amtrek.net/trvlplan/crashela/Georgi

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I never understood why they insisted on designing something completely new when many off-the-shelf designs from Europe and Japan already existed(maybe the "it's not made here" syndrome). Allegedly it had to do with the foreign trains not meeting the FRA's crashworthiness specs, but I like the foreign philosophy better, which is to keep them from crashing in the first place. Unfortunately, the extra weight needed to make the trains meet the specs also made the trucks hunt at 150 mph, and because the cars were made 4" too wide they can't operate with tilt on in some portions of Connecticut. It's a shame because the public is finally starting to see the advantages of train travel. Hopefully, they'll either fix the problems, or buy some TGVs or Shinkansens instead. We certainly don't need a repeat of the Metroliner fiasco from the 1960's.Incidentally, a similar philosophy with nuclear power plants exists which resulted in many individual designs that had problems when they could have just bought a standard, off the shelf design from France or Japan. Once again, no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists.

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Appropos of nothing,
But why would we buy a nuclear reactor from Japan or France?Chuck Schneider
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
North American Locomotive Works

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>Appropos of nothing,
>But why would we buy a nuclear reactor from Japan or France? Basically because it is a proven design used for all of their nuclear power plants rather than the one-off designs of American power plants. Or in the same vain, America should have standardized it's design instead of building dozens of completely different plants. That's basically what we did for nuclear submarines, so we certainly have the capability. So what I mean is do one of two things-either make our own standard plant, or buy from France or Japan. These one-off designs both cost more and end up creating an inherent risk since each design is unproven.

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As a retired Submariner I understand about standard Reactor design. That was why I asked the question about the French.....
But you must compare apples and apples here not apples and oranges....
The French don't have Jane Fonda & her fellow (green) travelers....
That and over regulation by the NRC are what forced the "one off" designs that proliferated here in the states...
Also the French Government had the political will to ignore/standup to the "Greens" for "The Greater Good".... i.e. electricity at less than $500/month for the average home.....
FWIW, There is also the fact that the French did not have access to "cheap domestic oil" and their greens were able to block a lot of Coal Infrastructure.......
Chuck Schneider
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
North American Locomotive Works

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The US designs are fine, the only problem that cause the cost to skyrocket were changes the feds wanted that were required after construction started. These changes forced the redesigning of the reactor vessels and piping at a huge cost without very little actual gain in saftey.My Dad worked for Westinghouse at the Bettis Facility that built and refueled reactors from the beginning of the nuclear program till he retired a few years ago, yes there was standardiztion of some of the components of the reactors but there were many changes needed for each class of boat. Plus there were two builders of reators - Westinghouse and GE. The types of reators in navy verses electical use are light night and day. They are designed for that specific purpose. You cannot take a design for a boat and use it to generate electicity. The steam requirements for each are extremely different. The only reason ppl fear nuclear power is because the do not know any better and they believe the line of BS feed to them by antinuc's who generally are some of the stupidest and most hardheaded ignoramouses.Kevin Arceneaux
gdapia

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Damn Kevin I hate to say this but I agree with you! LOL!Chuck Schneider
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
North American Locomotive Works

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Fracne I agree but NO NO nuclear from Japan.
They have so many accidents there and one would only imagine luck has kept them from Chernobul.Georgi

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There is a reason why......Actually, there are two reasons why. First off, all trains have to meet certain safety requirements, right? Like crash requirements?
European and Japanese trains don't meet the North American requirements, so they would have to be re-engineered to make them meet the requirements.Of course, the requirements demanded of the Acela/American Flyer (anyone remember THAT name?) were so demanding that no train already in existance could meet them.....Tilting? 165mph? 3 or 4 different voltages? Different cantenary systems? Not articulated? Low axle weight? A diesel/turbine powered version? Low maintenance/high availability? ON THE SAME TRAIN??????? (The list goes on, of course)So, since they have to be re-engineered anyways, why not get them done in the US, and give the jobs to Americans, instead of letting someone else from another country do the job.

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As someone said, Japanese poepel build trains not to crash at first place.
Last time train crashed in Japan was in Tokyo 2 years ago killing 4. It was on route where train passeses every 5 minutes.
If you calculate the %, it's really really small.

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Great lets become Japan!
They also have dedicated rights of way for high speed service and massive government subsidies to their rail system....Chuck Schneider
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
North American Locomotive Works

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I think that nuclear would want people to ride trains anyway, We don't want another three Rivewrs at all.

Andrew Bane
CEO AM Road
"the Road of Freedom"

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http://www.transportnews.com/Article/146248Kevin Arceneaux
gdapia

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And people thought British trains were unreliable....As for buying Eurostars, TGVs et al. The reason is that US FRA requirements stipulate that locomotives must withstand a drawbar compression of 1 million lbs. Even EWSR's (UK freight operator) new GM Class 66 (JT2CWR) had to be carried on a flat wagon to Pueblo Test Centre (a lot of Vehicle Acceptance work was done at Pueblo, since the 66's use the new Radial Bogie which GM wanted to test).
But even the Eurostar (Trans-Manche Super Train) had problems early on. They had to modify nearly 1000 track circuits because the Southern Railway (UK) used 50Hz frequency current for its track circuits (what Signals use to detect trains). However, the Variable Frequency AC traction motors used by Eurostars sometimes 'gave off' 50Hz current, which could confuse the track circuits. The fix was to fit a circuit breaker (ICMUs) which opened when it detected 50Hz current being given off by the train. However, a second problem then arose - the ICMUs were opening every 30 seconds! The reason was because the 'arcing' (the spark) between the 3rd rail and the pickup shoe contained a 50Hz current. So, the response time of the track circuits and ICMUs was increased, so if the 50Hz current continued for too long the circuit breaker opened.

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