The first-generation Acela Express trainset is a unique set of vehicles used on the ''
Acela
The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, includin ...
'',
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's flagship
high-speed service along the
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...
(NEC) in the
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
. When they debuted in 2000, the sets were the fastest in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
; reaching on of the route. They were built between 1998 and 2001 by a consortium of
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
and
Bombardier. Each set has two
power car
In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle:
*a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, multiple unit or tram, often as the lead vehicle;
*a vehicle equipped ...
s derived from units that Alstom built for the
TGV
The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
, and six passenger cars derived from the
LRC that Bombardier built for
Via Rail
Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
.
While the Acela sets were based on TGV equipment, the power cars and passenger cars are much heavier in order to meet the
Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...
's crash standards. The extra weight leads to the Acela's power-to-weight ratio being about per tonne, compared to for a
SNCF TGV Réseau
The SNCF TGV Réseau (TGV-R) trains were built by Alstom between 1992 and 1996. These TGV trainsets are based on the earlier TGV Atlantique.
The first Réseau (''"Network"'') sets entered service in 1993. Fifty dual-voltage trainsets were built ...
trainset. Unlike the TGV, the Acela sets employ
active tilting technology, which helps control lateral
centrifugal force
In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is paralle ...
, allowing the train to travel at higher speeds on the sharply curved NEC without disturbing passengers.
Bombardier later used the ''Acela'' carriage design and a
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
/
gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...
variant of the power car for its experimental
JetTrain
The JetTrain was an experimental high-speed passenger train concept created by Bombardier Transportation in an attempt to make European-style high-speed service more financially appealing to passenger railways throughout North America. It was des ...
.
The present ''Acela Express'' equipment will be replaced by new
Avelia Liberty
Avelia Liberty, also known as the Acela II, is a high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 trainsets for use on its flagship ''Acela'' ...
sets, beginning in fall 2023. The new trains will have greater passenger capacity and an enhanced
active tilt system that will allow faster speed on the many curved sections of the route.
History
Building and development
![Acela Express testing at TTCI, June 2000](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Acela_Express_testing_at_TTCI%2C_June_2000.jpg)
In the early 1990s,
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
tested several different high-speed trains from Europe to explore the possibility of adding a
high-speed rail
High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
service along the Northeast Corridor. An
X 2000 train was leased from Sweden for test runs from October 1992 to January 1993, followed by revenue service between
Washington DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
from February to May and August to September 1993.
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
showed the
ICE 1
The ICE 1 is the first batch-produced German high-speed train and one of six in the Intercity Express family. Revenue service at speeds up to started in 1991. It was raised to in May 1995 and temporary reduced to again, as a result of ...
train from Germany, organizing the
ICE Train North America Tour which started to operate on the Northeast Corridor on July 3, 1993.
This testing allowed Amtrak to define a set of specifications that went into a public tender in October 1994.
Requirements for the trainset included the ability to reach and withstand a collision with a freight train at speed without collapsing.
Most manufacturers which bid on the ''Acela'' were unable to meet the structural requirements, due to increased costs and complications for the manufacture of the trains, and the need for manufacturers to make significant engineering changes to their standard designs. In the end, only three qualified bidders remained:
ABB
ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ...
(manufacturer of the X 2000 train), Siemens (manufacturer of the ICE), and a consortium of Bombardier (manufacturer of the LRC trains) and
GEC Alsthom
GEC or Gec may refer to:
Education
* Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia
* Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia
* Goa Engineering College, India
* Government Engineering College (disambiguation)
* Guild for Exceptiona ...
(manufacturer of the French TGV).
The consortium of Bombardier (75%) and GEC Alsthom (now Alstom) (25%) was selected in March 1996.
A pilot trainset was completed by early 2000, and sent to
Transportation Technology Center
The Transportation Technology Center (TTC) is a railroad equipment testing and training facility located northeast of Pueblo, Colorado, owned by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). It was built in 1971 as the High Speed Ground Test Center ...
for testing in June 2000. An inaugural VIP run of the ''Acela'' occurred on November 16, 2000, with the VIP train being led by power car number 2020 with no. 2009 at the opposite end, followed by the first revenue run on December 11, 2000, a few months after the intended date.
Amtrak's original contract was for the delivery of 20 sets (6 coaches each, with power cars at front and rear) for $800 million. By 2004, Amtrak had settled contract disputes with the consortium, paying a total of $1.2 billion for the 20 sets, plus
15 extra electric locomotives, and the construction of maintenance facilities in Boston, New York, and Washington.
Outages
In August 2002, shortly after their introduction, ''Acela'' sets were briefly removed from service when the brackets that connected truck (
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
) dampers (shocks) to the powerunit carbodies ("yaw dampers") were found to be cracking. The ''Acela'' returned to service when a program of frequent inspections was instituted. The damper brackets have since been redesigned and old brackets replaced by the newer design.
On April 15, 2005, the ''Acela'' was removed from service when cracks were found in the
disc brake
A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...
s of many passenger coaches. The
Bombardier-
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
consortium replaced the discs under warranty. Limited service resumed in July 2005, as a portion of the fleet operated with new brake discs. ''
Metroliner'' trains, which the ''Acela Express'' was intended to replace, filled in during the outage. Amtrak announced on September 21, 2005, that all 20 trainsets had been returned to full operation.
In October 2012, ''Acela'' service was cancelled immediately before, during, and after
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
, which damaged the
North River Tunnels
The North River Tunnels are a pair of rail tunnels that carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit passenger lines under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Built between 1904 ...
causing lasting delays and reliability problems.
Refurbishments
The ''Acela'' trainsets underwent minor refurbishments between mid-2009 and 2010 at Penn Coach Yard, next to 30th Street Station in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania. These refurbishments included new blue leather seats throughout the trainset.
By 2011, the ''Acela'' fleet had reached half of its designed service life. Amtrak proposed several replacement options, including one as part of its ''A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor''.
In 2011, Amtrak announced that forty new ''Acela'' coaches would be ordered in 2012 to increase capacity on existing trainsets. The existing trains would have received two more coaches, lengthening the trainsets from a 1-6-1 configuration to 1-8-1 (power car — passenger cars — power car). The longer trainsets would have required the modifications of the ''Acela'' maintenance facilities in Boston, New York and Washington. The first of the stretched trainsets was to have entered service in
fiscal year
A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
2014. This plan was cancelled in 2012 in favor of replacing, rather than refurbishing, the ''Acela'' fleet.
In May 2018, Amtrak announced a 14-month program to refresh the interiors of the ''Acela'' sets, including new seat cushions and covers, new aisle carpeting, and a deep clean. This refurbishment program has been completed as of June 2019.
Replacement
In January 2014, Amtrak issued a request for proposals on 28 or more new model ''Acela'' sets, in a combined order with the
California High-Speed Rail Authority
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is a California state agency established pursuant to the California High-Speed Rail Act to develop and implement high-speed intercity rail service, namely the California High-Speed Rail project. Mem ...
. These bids were due May 17, 2014. After discussions with manufacturers, Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority concluded their needs were too disparate for common rolling stock and decided not to pursue the joint option. The present ''Acela Express'' equipment will be replaced by new
Avelia Liberty
Avelia Liberty, also known as the Acela II, is a high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 trainsets for use on its flagship ''Acela'' ...
sets, beginning in fall 2023. The new trains will have greater passenger capacity and an enhanced
active tilt system that will allow faster speed on the many curved sections of the route.
Engineering
Design
The sets use identical
power car
In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle:
*a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, multiple unit or tram, often as the lead vehicle;
*a vehicle equipped ...
s at each end which operate on a voltage of 11,000 volts
AC, and either 25 or 60
Hz frequency, derives several components from the TGV,
such as the third-generation TGV's traction system (including the four asynchronous AC motors per power car, rectifiers, inverters, and regenerative braking), the trucks/bogies structure (a long wheelbase dual transom H frame welded steel with outboard mounted tapered roller bearings), the brake discs (although there are only three per axle, versus four on the TGV), and crash energy management techniques to control structural deformation in the event of an accident.
The tilting carriages are based upon Bombardier's earlier
LRC trains used on
Via Rail
Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
rather than the TGV's non-tilting articulated trailers. ''Acela'' power cars and passenger cars are much heavier than those of the TGV in order to meet the FRA's crash standards. French and Canadian crews testing the ''Acela'' referred to it as "the pig" due to its weight. The extra weight leads to the ''Acela''
's power-to-weight ratio being about per tonne, compared to for a
SNCF TGV Reseau set.
The Tier II crash standards, adopted in 1999, have also resulted in the passenger cars being designed without steps and trapdoors, which means that the sets can only serve lines with
high-level platforms such as the Northeast Corridor. ''Acela'' trains are semi-permanently coupled (but not articulated as in the TGV) and are referred to as sets.
Operating speeds
With a 71:23 gear ratio, the ''Acela'' is designed with a top speed of and reaches a maximum speed of in regular service on three sections of track totaling in
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
and
.
The ''Acela'' achieves an average speed (including stops) of between Washington and New York,
[The timetable gives 2 hours and 45 minutes, minimum, between Washington and New York. Dividing that into the distance traveled, , gives an average speed of .] and an average speed of from New York to Boston.
[The timetable gives 3 hours and 30 minutes, minimum, between New York and Boston. Dividing that into gives an average speed of .] The average speed over the entire route is a slightly faster .
[The timetable gives 6 hours and 30 minutes, minimum, between Washington and Boston. Dividing that into gives an average speed of .]
In practice, the ''Acela''
's speed depends more on local restrictions along its corridor than on its set. In addition to speed restrictions through urban areas, the ''Acela''
's corridor includes several speed restrictions below over older bridges, or through tunnels a century old or more. Altogether, Amtrak has identified 224 bridges along ''Acela''
's route that are beyond their design life.
To prepare for the ''Acela'' launch, Amtrak upgraded the track along the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven to allow maximum speeds in excess of . West of New York City, the ''Acela''
's top speed is .
One limiting factor is the
overhead catenary
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipmen ...
support system which was constructed before 1935 and lacks the constant-tension features of the new catenary east of New Haven.
The
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
ran ''
Metroliner'' test trains in the late 1960s as fast as and briefly intended to run the ''Metroliner'' service at speeds reaching . Certification testing for commercial operation at involving test runs at up to began between Trenton and New Brunswick in September 2012.
''Acela Express''
's fastest schedule between New York and Washington, DC was 2 hours and 45 minutes in 2012. $450 million was allotted by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
's administration to replace catenary and upgrade signals between
Trenton and
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, which will allow speeds of over a stretch. The improvements were scheduled to be completed in 2016, but have been delayed; the project is now scheduled to be finished in 2020. This section of track holds the record for the highest speed by a train in the US, which is , achieved in a test run by the U.S./Canada-built
UAC TurboTrain
The UAC TurboTrain was an early high-speed, gas turbine train manufactured by United Aircraft that operated in Canada between 1968 and 1982 and in the United States between 1968 and 1976. Amtrak disposed of the trains in 1980. It was one of the ...
on December 20, 1967.
Composition
The production sets are formed as follows:
The ''Acela Express'' trainset consists of two
power car
In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle:
*a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, multiple unit or tram, often as the lead vehicle;
*a vehicle equipped ...
s, a café car, a First Class car, and four Business Class cars, semi-permanently coupled together. ''Acela'' offers two classes of seating, Business Class and First Class. Unlike most other Amtrak trains, Business Class is the ''de facto'' standard class on ''Acela'' trains; there is no coach service.
The First Class car has 44 seats, being three seats across (one on one side, two on the other side), four seat tables and assigned seating. There are 260 Business Class seats on each set; these cars have four seats across (two on each side) and four-seat tables.
Baggage may be stowed in overhead compartments or underneath seats. Trains are wheelchair-
accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
. Each car has or two toilets, with one being ADA compliant. Automatic sliding doors between cars reduce noise.
''Acela'' maintenance is generally taken care of at the Ivy City facility in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
;
Sunnyside Yard
Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City.
Description
The yard is owned by Amtrak and is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road (LIR ...
in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York; or Southampton Street Yard in Boston.
References
External links
Acela Express Trainset Information – On Track On Line
{{Lightweight Trains
Amtrak rolling stock
Bombardier Transportation locomotives
High-speed trains of the United States
Passenger trains running at least at 200 km/h in commercial operations
Tilting trains
Train-related introductions in 2000
Electric multiple units with locomotive-like power cars
25 kV AC multiple units
Electric multiple units of the United States