Acela-2 deliveries not looking good

Report from OIG is telling. Amtrak management is really on the hot Seat. Near end OIG says Amtrak did not learn from the Viewliner-2 elays. Report seems to say Amtrak caused deliveries of V-2s to be delayed up to seven years? Theere is even a hint that the new trains fom Siemens are having problems caused by management. There has been not a single program manager to make decisions as procurement has been divided up. Micro management by top managers? Now Amtrak is finally having just one person that is only responsible for one project.

Doesthis mean that the board of directors have not been doing their due diligence. IMO the Semate sub comittee should reject all nominees that are present BOD members.

OIG-A-2023-013 (REDACTED)_v2.pdf (amtrakoig.gov)

From the non-rail media

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2023/10/03/amtraks-new-acela-trains-delayed-again/71047732007/

Alstom is the manufacturer, not Siemens.

The OIG report insuinated that Siemens deliveries to Amtrak and the CHI agencies might also have some of these same problems. Sorry did not explain that.

So from what I read independently, looks like Amtrak is again making changes after the construction has stared in the case of the Acela II, causing the delay. It was the same reason the Midwest Compact Cars from Siemens were delayed. They need to deal with this internally at Amtrak and have a freeze on changes after a specific date of order…my two cents.

It would appear that Amtrak personel are not able to view blue prints and other construction documentation and understand what the 3D will be when everything comes into reality. None are so blind as those that refuse to see.

[quote user=“charlie hebdo”]
Alstom is the manufacturer, not Siemens.[/quo

[quote user=“charlie hebdo”]

So, speaking of Alstom:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/05/french-train-manufacturer-alstom-plunges-35percent-after-cash-flow-downgrade.html?qsearchterm=alstom

That seems pretty unrealistic. There are always going to be issues identified iafter delivery in the testing phase. Not like you’re buying a used car from the back lot.

The actual elephant in the room is that no one has done the required stress testing on these trainsets yet… who produces multiple trains in a multibillion dollar order without understanding that most if not all that cost will be wasted if the trains fail to pass buff and draft? (I recall a certain high-profile bilevel design failed to do, with expen$ive con$equence$, a few short years ago.)

Joe’s letter a couple of years ago is looking more and more valid with each project-management idiocy.

This is not good at all. Could this be a fore warning of a bankruptcy? Then what will Amtrak do?

Alstom cash flow warning erases $3 billion from train maker’s value | Reuters

“The sky is falling!!”

This is only temporary and normal when interest rates rise. So it should only be viewed as a temporary issue. I don’t think Alstom is in any danger here as it is just a bump in the road.

Time for Amtrak to plan for the worse instead of hoping for the best. That means IMO restoring all Amfleets to passenger worthy service as quickly as possible. If more AX-1s get sidlined for parts these Amfleets will have to fill in for cancelled Acela -1 trips.

I don’t think I would go along with that if I were in Amtrak (they are hiring). I think the issue there is steel as it gets older and stresses of use, starts to fracture easier and all the bangs and bumps over the decades that Amfleet cars have taken as well as miles put on them. Not sure that would be a good investment and a lot of the spare parts and other components that need replacement over time are probably getting scarcer as time moves on.

On private cars that are old they keep them running by custom making a lot of the parts that are no longer produced by industry. For one car that runs every once in a while that is probably expensive. For a fleet that runs frequently, it’s got to be ridiculously expensive.

At some age threshold, new is probably cheaper to run than rebuilt old.