Acela

[Anonymous]

Amtrak has been concerned about the performance of the Acela. It seems the trian has a poor on time record. Two weeks ago officials were test running some units. One was clocked at 130 MPH at West Kingston, Rhode Island. Several nights ago, an Acela lost all power at Cranston, Rhode Island. Passengers were climbing out the windows and and hiring limos at a nearby rental agency.

[Anonymous]

Art,
Correct me if I am wrong,but I thought that was due to a problem in the catenary that the train was drawing power from. The catenary system, from what I understand, is quite old and subject to reliabilty problems. You can have the greatest electric train in the world, but if the elecrical system delivering power to it goes out, the train doesn't move.

George in Murfreesboro

[Soo2610]

George, The article I saw said the same thing. The trains are performing well and they are adding more trips. Problem has been with the infrastructure and conflicting traffic.

[Anonymous]

George,
The overhead wiring is only a few years old. I don`t know if teh wiring failed. Details have been slim regarding this I was led to believe the locos failed, but there could have been a power loss from a substation.
The wiring was only put in place recently on the old New Haven Shore line from New Haven to Boston. There was always a delay in New Haven bcause locos had to be changed from electric to steam or duesel.