Avelia Liberty, also known as the Acela II, is a high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer

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 assembled in the United States.

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 ...

has ordered 28 trainsets for use on its flagship ''

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 ...

'' 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 ...

between

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , 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, ...

, via

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It is part of the Avelia family of high-speed trains, which also includes the

Avelia Horizon The TGV M (also known as the Avelia Horizon) is a high speed passenger train designed and produced by the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. It has a broadly similar design to the TGV Duplex sets, with bi-level carriages and a push-pull c ...

(now known as

TGV M The TGV M (also known as the Avelia Horizon) is a high speed passenger train designed and produced by the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. It has a broadly similar design to the TGV Duplex sets, with bi-level carriages and a push-pull c ...

) designed 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 ...

, but adapted to conform with North American railroad standards, including U.S.

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 ...

crashworthiness Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of aircraft and vehicles. Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different crit ...

standards. Amtrak says that compared to the prior generation, these trainsets would allow for improved frequency and greater capacity on the ''Acela'' service. , two prototype trainsets were undergoing testing and construction of the other trainsets was ongoing. Trains are expected to enter passenger service in the fall of 2023.

History

In August 2016,

announced a $2.4 billion loan from the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

for the purchase of new high-speed trainsets for the ''

'' service from

. Alstom will also provide long-term technical support and supply spare components and parts. These next generation trainsets would replace the 20 existing Bombardier-Alstom trainsets that were nearing the end of their useful service life. Avelia Liberty Kearny Junction

Amtrak said that the Avelia Liberty trainsets would allow for improved frequency and greater capacity on the ''Acela'' service. The 28 trainsets ordered (compared to the 20 older trainsets) would allow for more frequent service on the route, including half-hourly peak service between New York City and Washington, D.C. Each of the new trainsets will also have 378 seats and 8 wheelchair locations for a total capacity of 386 passengers (25% more than the current trainsets), allowing for greater passenger capacity. U.S. assembly of the trainsets is taking place at Alstom's plants in Hornell and

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Initial construction of car bodies and major components began at Hornell in October 2017. The first prototype set was sent to the

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 ...

(TTC) in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado ...

in February 2020 for testing on the high-speed test track. During the nine months of expected trials, the trainsets were tested at speeds up to . A second prototype was delivered in March 2020 to Amtrak for testing along the service tracks in the Northeast which began in May 2020. The first test run up to

Boston South Station South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...

occurred on September 28. By 2020, the first trainset was expected to enter revenue service in early 2022, with all trainsets in service by late 2022, at which point Amtrak would retire the previous ''Acela'' fleet. However, , full high-speed testing is not expected to begin until late 2022.

Features and production

Although Amtrak initially favoured a

New Pendolino The New Pendolino is a class of high-speed tilting trains built by Alstom Ferroviaria ( Fiat Ferroviaria) for Trenitalia and Cisalpino. It is derived from a model developed for the Chinese operator Changchun Railway Company, and subsequently dev ...

derivative, the trainset trailers are based on the AGV and power car design is based on

. The trainsets 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°. Each Avelia Liberty trainset has power cars at each end of the train, and (initially) nine articulated passenger cars. An additional three passenger cars can be added if demand grows. The power cars include a Crash Energy Management system to help meet Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Tier-III standards while allowing a 30% reduction in train weight. These trains will also have

USB port Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

s, power sockets,

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

, accessibility features, and other conveniences. The new trainsets, along with track and signaling improvements, will allow for an initial improvement in maximum regular service speed to on some portions of the route. Many investments into track and signaling upgrades are currently underway or completed.

References

External links

Amtrak - The Next Generation of Acela
- official page
Avelia Liberty high-speed-train
on Alstom's website.
Footage of high-speed testing in Pueblo, CO
from Amtrak's YouTube channel.
New Acela Interior Preview
from Amtrak's YouTube channel. {{Pendolino High-speed rail in the United States High-speed trains Pendolino Alstom high-speed trains High-speed trains of the United States Electric multiple units with locomotive-like power cars Amtrak rolling stock Northeast Corridor Train-related introductions in 2023 25 kV AC multiple units

History

Features and production

See also

References

External links