I posted this when the Amtrak Media story came out, but it disappeared. Hope this thread sticks.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Avelia Liberties in service.
I guess they decided to continue calling them Acelas.
I thought they were calling them Acelas all along. I noted that they said they intend to run both the old and new trains in service for a while.
As you said, they were using Avelua Liberty when we discussed this with that former NH/PC/Conrail/Amtrak engineer.
The approx 30% increase in passenger capacity per train will help Amtrak’s bottom line but I wonder how much.
Avelia liberties and Acela II were used pretty interchangeably.
It is being reported that the new trains tilting system has not been approved by the FRA, and will not be in use once operation starts.
I wonder who (if anybody on here) will be an early rider and see if the tilting mechanism is in operation now?
Avelia is the manufacturer’s name for the train set series, “Liberty” is a nod to the ‘American-specific’ design. As far as I know, there was never any question that they would not be taking over ‘Acela’ premium service, under the Acela brand, or that some other branding name was going to be used for them.
Not that I wouldn’t be in favor of some change – ‘Acela’ sounds more like the female protagonist in an H. Rider Haggard novel, and the various attempts to hint at ‘acceleration’ either sound like cheesy '50s show cars or that accounting firm that had to ditch its old name but quick…
I think the FRA should speed up approval. Ridiculous if this has not been done already.
I am looking forward to a detailed account of what happened in those years.
Perhaps you will be the first member to ride?
I would think the 26.9% increase in seating capacity per trainset would improve the revenue on the NEC.
I’m considering being there. My tentative guess is that it will be sold out by then.
I’m hoping the new trains do sell out consistently and give a clear transition from the Bombardier trains. We may have to see if retirement of the latter decreases maintenance expenses to a degree that shows up in ‘profitability’ before 2028.
I have not read anything definite about the tilt system being used. To my knowledge the reason tilt was disabled on the Bombardier Acelas (center-to-center spacing on some of the rebuilt section north of New Haven) has never been fully ‘corrected’, and with a maximum speed of 160mph in a few choice, relatively straight locations, it may be wiser just to quietly disable the mechanism against accident.
I actually have some vacation coming up that week. Maybe…
DO IT!!!
As of now, there’s no distinction in the app which acelas are using the next gen sets and which are using the old crusty sets.
They will be equipped with an active tilt system, dubbed Tiltronix by Alstom and based on Pendolinos, that will allow higher speeds on curved portions of the corridor track at a maximum tilt angle of 6.3°
And I suspect that’s intentional and would continue throughout the period the old sets are retired.
See if Amtrak Media starts to let slip when the first new-equipment runs will be made – press opportunities at particular times; public inspections of the new equipment – to get a better idea of where the first sets will run, and by extrapolation where they’ll be turned after the first run.