Amtrak Acela Replacement Plan Creates Bombardier Rivalry

[ngauger]

Interesting article... I may have more trains to chase
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[railohio]

And how well do you do chasing Acelas now?

[ngauger]

And how well do you do chasing Acelas now?

Haven't chased them much the last few years. I have plenty of pics, so I don't need any more I'm trying to get more pics of the new SEPTA passenger cars now. it would also be great to get one of any of the NS Heritage engines, but so far - no luck

[ngauger]

Here's an example of an Acela "leaning" into the turn

[ngauger]

Here's a New SEPTA car too

[Ralph]

And how well do you do chasing Acelas now?

What, you don't think Mikey is fast enough?

[ngauger]

I always face North when seeking a Southbound Moose!!!!

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Wow, these bombardier products aren't having any luck. the HHP8s, the locomotive versions of the Acela Power cars, are going to be first to go with the arrival of the new ACS-64 electrics. There won't be anything Acela left a couple years from now.

Better buy an acela ticket now.

I'm trying to get more pics of the new SEPTA passenger cars now. it would also be great to get one of any of the NS Heritage engines, but so far - no luck

I still miss the budd and St. louis cars. All i've been seeing lately are the Silverliner Vs (though the IVs are still the most numerous).

[ngauger]

Wow, these bombardier products aren't having any luck. the HHP8s, the locomotive versions of the Acela Power cars, are going to be first to go with the arrival of the new ACS-64 electrics. There won't be anything Acela left a couple years from now.

Didn't hear about the ACS-64's - When are they due to be put in use???

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Wow, these bombardier products aren't having any luck. the HHP8s, the locomotive versions of the Acela Power cars, are going to be first to go with the arrival of the new ACS-64 electrics. There won't be anything Acela left a couple years from now.

Didn't hear about the ACS-64's - When are they due to be put in use???

They announced these a while ago. They're supposed to go into production in Germany either this year (2013) or the next. They're based off the "Eurosprinter" locomotive in service on the other side of the atlantic. The "DC" AEM7s and HHP8s will be the first to be retired. the AEM7-ACs will probably be the last of the current generation to remain in service by the end of the decade.

Amtrak is actually getting rid of a lot of stuff lately. They have already put into service "Viewliner" diners and i think there are more car types planned using the "viewliner" body shell. These will bump off the last remaining budd diner cars on Amtrak. Those I can understand needing retirement, but the HHP8s and Acelas only went into service 12 years ago. They aren't brand new, but they certainly aren't old.

The HHP8s i hear are problematic, but the Acela Express trainsets i'm told were incredibly successful. Its weird that they are retiring them so soon.

[ngauger]

Geeze - I'm going to have to get a few more pics of those engines too

Yeah - Amtrak - seems to replace their stuff rather than maintain them for the long term.
Not too bad I guess, since the older they get - the more money they have to put into them

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Geeze - I'm going to have to get a few more pics of those engines too

Yeah - Amtrak - seems to replace their stuff rather than maintain them for the long term.
Not too bad I guess, since the older they get - the more money they have to put into them

That was the langauge they used in that article, but I'm not sure thats the case. Some of the "newer" budd cars (not counting the Amfleets of course), are already close to 60 years old. I would say thats a good run. I've heard rumors of Amfleet retirement, but I don't think thats anything in the near future. I'm unfamiliar with the status of the superliners, but i'm guessing they aren't going anywhere either.

They may have more of a case for the locomotives, since the P40DCs were a little young to store and sell, but then I haven't heard any bids to replace the P42DCs or the other diesels they have. Some people question the replacement of the F40PH, but then they had a good run as well, and some of them are used as Cab-control/baggage cars, so they are squeezing usage out them.

Speaking of cab cars, don't forget that there are former metroliners still running on the rails. When they were in service, they had so many bugs and flaws that they certainly seemed rip for an early retirement. I haven't heard of any plans to remove these from service either!

In the case of the Acela sets, as I understood it, they just didn't have the passenger capacity. There was a plan to buy 40 new Acela coaches (enough to add 2 coaches to each trainset), but since bombardier closed production, it would cost a lot of money to restart production to only add two coaches. Furthermore, most of the facilities that currently service the Acela apparently aren't really meant to handle longer trainsets, creating additional problems.

In the end, I suppose they figured its cheaper to replace them than to expand them. To bad they can't add couplers to the ends of those train sets and make them locomotive hauled (minus the power cars of course). That way, they could get some use out of the train at least.