http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/13/news/economy/amtrak-acela/ Yes, I know. I found this hard to believe. However, I guess Amtrak is looking to replace the Acelas. Well....
Maybe cnn is confused and boardman was referring to the new siemens engine that will replace the hhp8 and aem7s?
Copied and pasted from Amtrak's post on Facebook: [h=5]"Our CEO shared big news on Capitol Hill today! We’re planning to replace the existing Acela Express fleet and add additional train sets in the future. That means more capacity, more trips and more happy Amtrak customers. Like this to show support for high-speed rail!"[/h]So it's trainsets that are being changed.
Yeah, saw it on trains after here. Maybe they'll finally convince the FRA to let them buy off the shelf so the Europeans and Japanese will stop laughing at the big ungainly american HSR
Euu and jp are laughing because we stuck our foots in our mouths when they offered advice. But i like tis idea. New trainsets mean that they also have the option of merging older trainsets that have otherwise been replaced together. Ts just hope these don't teethe when pressed into service first too...
hopefully, the Acela will be sold off to other agencies and HSR will move to other parts of the country.
On my Trips Yesterday and the day before I got to talking to the Amtrak barista (Amtrak Cascades does have a "Bistro" car) and she was saying that 3 more Talgo consists have been ordered for the Cascades and are being made under license in Wisconsin(?). Wonder if this new development could have anything to do with it since they are pendulum cars with a max speed around 124mph. I have some doubts about them using the Cascades model since those are centrifugal tilting, but Talgo does make High Speed Train sets, and the Cascades version does appear to be manufactured under license in the US now, so I don't think it would be much of a stretch to retool and make another model here.
Doubt it. the feasability and facilities are there, i won't dispute that, only thatTrains has been following the Wisconsin Talgos very closely. The sets being made are for the Cascade and for the Hiawatha train service that was supposed to be Wisconsin owned until the Alexander Dumases that got elected gave the money back.
From what I've been reading, 2 of the sets will be ODOT owned (not sure about the 3rd) making 3 WDOT sets (the current non FRA rated versions) 2 new FRA Rated ODOT owned sets, 2 Amtrak Owned, and the mystery 3rd new set. The ODOT ones where purchased with the Hiawatha sets to save something like $6 million. But anyways I found this on ODOT's Flickr. "It's ugly for crash safety." http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondot/7510821090/ And http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/Pages/TalgoHome.aspx
I also found this just now. http://www.talgoamerica.com/pdf/TRN.pdf It's a article from 'Trains' in PDF on Talgo America's site. I for one have never seen a bi level train doing over 100mph, and after riding in many superliners and Utah's commuter, I wouldn't want to. Any word on what these new Acela's will be, or what they'll be called? Will they be bi-level as well? Just on a personal note, it's sort of strange to have major cities and states looking at Oregon and Washington with envy over what is the result of 10+ years of planning and growth. Some of these new multi billion dollar mass trans plans I keep reading about are in my opinion, crazy. The Cascades didn't start out as 5 sets running all over the PNW, and Tri-Met's MAX lines started life as a very short and humble line and grew over the past decades as needed. Some of these plans I keep seeing are for what Tri-Met and Cascades are today, not what they started out as. So I have to wonder, 1 Who want's a used Acela they can't use, and/or, 2 Who's going to pony up the $$$ to make a high speed line? Wisconsin won't, I guess that's why they reneged.
Actually, I was aware of some of these plans going back to at least the mid-1980's. Yup. Right on. Yup. Exactly how it should be done.
Odds are if they are bi-level they'll be lower slung than amtrak's tradional equipemnt in much the same way the talgos ride so much lower than the amfleets. Europe's high speeds have bilevel sets that work fairly well. And i think the NJT has bi-lecel equipment that is lower riding netween the tucks similar to the bombards but a little shortter. That being said, i agree with your basic notion and can say that 80mph is plent fast enough for things like trying to shower in a superliner, and that's from on the lower floor....
A week or so ago I found myself in the ADA bathroom on the Cascades-as we started to pull away. Never thought I'd be wanting a tiny shoulder-to-wall bathroom up till then.