Acela out of service until the end of summer. The seats inside the Blue line here in Philly are falling apart. ABB stay in Canada. Bring back the Budd Co.,Pullman and St. Louis Car Co.
CNN says today that A/Trak “over” estimated the wear on the brakes. This is a quote from Gunn. [:o)][:D][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by SILVERCHAMPION
s/bed
Check that again. Gunn is reported in several sources as saying the manufacturer, Bombardier, overestimated the life on the discs.
St. Louis Car Co. went out of the carbuilding business because they were a very good assembler of cars from somebody else’s design (PCC’s) but not very good as original designers (NYCTA R-42). Budd and Pullman-Standard gave up passenger carbuilding because the market dried up.
CNN amended the report saying now it was Bombardier who did the “over” estimating of the brakes usage. [:o)][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by SILVERCHAMPION
[
In Boston we have these “new” street cars that were really never used. They were made in Italy. One day the MBTA realized they could’nt go through 100 or so year old switches without derailing, which was caused by a similiar problem as the Acela’s. Either the trucks or the brakes, I forgot.
Amtrak should sue Bombardier for its loss Acela revenue this summer…
No date should be set to restore the Acela Express service until the cause(s) of the cracks in the rotors of the Acela Expresses are thoroughly understood. Even then service should only be restored on a limited basis until the integrity of the Acela Express trainsets can be assured.
If this situation isn’t covered in the original contract then I’d be shocked. I am sure the lawyers are all over this one as I am sure Bombardier knows what is coming their way.
Although, I doubt anyone would argue the Acela’s have been a big success for Bombardier, isn’t Bombardier’s global reputation is pretty good? They certainly sell a lot of passenger and transit equipment all over the globe.
Hey people, the brake disc assemblies in question are/were made by Knorr Brake(who
bought out New York Air Brake company) and be WABTEC(Westinghouse’s air brake system). Not saying that Bombardier must not share the blame for the ills that these trains have suffered. There are/were alot of other companies and vendors that were involved during these trainsets’ construction, so there’s alot of blame to go around.
GLENN
A R E A L R A I L R O A D E R!!!
A R E A L A M T R A K E R!!!
A T R U E L Y DISGUSTED, DISGRUNTLED AND DISSAPPOINTED AMERICAN!!!
Thanks for the info but no matter who made them they surely screwed up A/trak[:(][:(]
[quote]
Originally posted by gfjwilmde
I would not***u me what you posted when you are dealing with a quasi governmental agency. [:D][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by andrewjonathon
[quote]
Originally posted by donclark
[
I would not be surprised to find that the cracks are the result of thermal cycling due to water getting on hot brake discs – perhaps being splashed or sprayed by undercar aerodynamics. If there are stress raisers at the places where the fins merge into the back sides of the disc surfaces, it would not be surprising to see what would otherwise be a ‘warping’ tendency turn into a separation. That, in turn, would allow the disc to start to take on a ‘set’ warp, putting more stress on the adjacent fins…
I haven’t seen any reports, technical or otherwise, about any braking effects that would corroborate this mechanism… surge, displacement, running clearance, periodic runout inspection or odd wear patterns on the disc faces, etc.
Be interesting to hear LC, Gabe, et al. comment on how the liability picture here works out. I’d think Knorr Bremse would be liable to Bombardier as a subcontractor/supplier, but that Bombardier would be liable under the terms of their contract with Amtrak for serviceability of the trains as supplied. Since I have not seen any of the contracts or agreements, either Amtrak/Bombardier or Bombardier with its subs, I can’t comment any further on the matter (although as usual it’s fun to watch the armchair counsel discussions… ;-})