With the oppressive heat on the NEC ( BOS - WASH ) + Harrisburgh & Spriingfield Amtrak is havingf to limit trains to 80 MPH when rail interior temp + 120 degrees.or higher. MARC has announced speed restrictions several days this week WASH - BAL. It probably is just as well as the PRR type CAT ( NYP - WASH ) will sag so much that any high speed trains would probably snag the CAT. CAT NH - BOS is probably imune. Although Amtarak has not installed heat sensors POU - ALB I imagine they are limiting at least to 80 MPH and maybe less since it was previously CSX ? CSX lines for VRE & MARC are limited to 20 MPH below allowed track speed.
Hopefully this heat will abate by the end of this weekend ?
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251624249463
Amtrak had a NEC regional BOS - NEW PORT NEWS stall south of Baltimore with 404 passengers on board.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-amtrak-train-stalled-20130719,0,3691995.story
Some pure speculation. --- Amtrak has had many loco fasilures from Perryville - WASH in the last few months. There are not enough failures to reliably say that this section is having a significant # of failures but someone needs to look at this. The NH - BOS section does not seem to have even 1/4 the failures that are occurring here.
What could be the causes.
!. Low voltage or wide swings in voltage ?
2. The use of 25 Hz instead of 60 Hz ?
3. CAT sags causing interruptions to the locos ?
4. Present heat ?
5. Many of the above were near BAL. % of north bound Vs Southbound failures. These failures have occurred to both BOS & NYP originators. MARC has also had a lot of motor failures as they are HHP-8s Would be interesting to find out % rate of failures of HHP-8s AEM-7ACs, AEM-7DCs based on Also mileage in revenue service before failure. Non powered time in layovers. .
This post is late but NJT admits that wire & other problems is causing many heat delays on NJT. It is time to speed up the rebuilding of the CAT all the way from NYP - PHL. I recognize that those sections where the tracks will be moved for HrSR may wait but isn't it time to get things moving ?
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2013/07/after_delays_on_northeast_corridor_nj_transit_director_says_heat_is_a_real_challenge.html
Amtrak owns the Northeast Corridor Line in New Jersey. Amtrak has been planning for a long time to replace the catenary here. Both high and low temperatures have caused it to break on occasion. I suspect Amtrak has wasted a fair amount of money on repairs that, had the replacement been made, would not be needed. But given the current mood of the Congress, especially the House, Amtrak's budget may not allow this essential work to be done.
blue streak 1 Some pure speculation. --- Amtrak has had many loco fasilures from Perryville - WASH in the last few months. There are not enough failures to reliably say that this section is having a significant # of failures but someone needs to look at this. The NH - BOS section does not seem to have even 1/4 the failures that are occurring here. What could be the causes. !. Low voltage or wide swings in voltage ? 2. The use of 25 Hz instead of 60 Hz ? 3. CAT sags causing interruptions to the locos ? 4. Present heat ?
I would tend to say part of it is related to (5.) the very substantial percentage of fixed electrification components that are aging. Much of that stuff is considerably older than we are... That may not explain the problems with heat impeding the cooling of main transformers or other components, though. It would help to have some sort of tabulation of the causes of the various locomotive failures...
Overmod [I would tend to say part of it is related to (5.) the very substantial percentage of fixed electrification components that are aging. Much of that stuff is considerably older than we are... That may not explain the problems with heat impeding the cooling of main transformers or other components, though. It would help to have some sort of tabulation of the causes of the various locomotive failures...
[I would tend to say part of it is related to (5.) the very substantial percentage of fixed electrification components that are aging. Much of that stuff is considerably older than we are... That may not explain the problems with heat impeding the cooling of main transformers or other components, though. It would help to have some sort of tabulation of the causes of the various locomotive failures...
Changed the title slightly to reflect both problems.since heat is many time the cause of CAT failures.
There was another problem with the PRR CAT this time involving NJT. There are certainly more problems with the PRR CAT than thre NH - BOS line. However the number of track miles vs route miles ( ~~ 6 times as much for the PRR ?? ) are much more than the BOS line. Anyone have the exact distances ?
9 - 11 Cat down again between BAL and PHL. Did not get details.
Now we have 20 miles of variable tension CAT down from Trenton south.
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251625357243
This section is not slated for the replacement that will occur north of Trenton. it will not be replaced until the track is straightened for higher speed travel.
Details are not available yet but some speculation may be that the extreme cold stretched the wires too tight causing separations ?
Amtrak bulletin
January 7, 2014 2:00 PM ET
Amtrak Engineering crews working in bitterly cold conditions since early this morning have made significant progress in repairing a 20-mile section of overhead wires between Trenton, NJ and Holmesburg, PA, with three of the four available tracks are now open.Passengers should however, be prepared for congestion-related delays through the affected area, for most of the day. Amtrak continues to operate a modified schedule today because of the extreme cold, with additional changes being made in real-time as conditions continue to change.
Reports CAT failure near Newark
Thanks to Henry in the next post
An NJT train had a wire drop onto it while on track 4 just east of the Newark NJ station about 5:45. Screwed up Corridor, NJCoast Line and Raritan Valley services. Train could not move for almost 2 hours while "engineers" decided if there was a danger.
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The catenary along with several bridges (see Feb. "TRAINS") needs to be replaced. That
would take government funding. Unfortunately, in the America of the 2000s, that would
evoke the dirty word "socialism".
That work is being done. Mile by mile at about as slow a pace as fast as Congress allows the money for it. But problems have also fallen by the new cat, too.
Well April 3rd has a major failure on the od PRR CAT south of BAL near Bowie. Is this wire system past its service life? Seems like a failure WASH - BAL - Perry every month ? Wonder if sudden rise of outside air temperature has anything to do with causing this failure ?
blue streak 1 Well April 3rd has a major failure on the od PRR CAT south of BAL near Bowie. Is this wire system past its service life? Seems like a failure WASH - BAL - Perry every month ? Wonder if sudden rise of outside air temperature has anything to do with causing this failure ?
April 3, 2014
3:10 p.m. EDTAmtrak Acela Express and Northeast Regional service has resumed in a limited capacity between Washington and Baltimore following temporary repairs to the overhead wire system in the area of Bowie, Md.
Congestion-related delays are to be expected throughout the evening rush hour as we work toward full restoration of service.
Service Disruption: Due to a fallen tree blocking all four tracks east of Paoli (PAO) causing catenary issues, all service between PHL and Harrisburg (HAR) has been temporarily suspended. We will update as more information becomes available.
As of 1230 not known if this is a CAT failure but it does sound like one ?
http://nypost.com/2014/04/24/morning-commute-delays-for-lirr-amtrak-and-nj-transit-riders/
Trains were back in regular service soon after 8AM....
henry6 Trains were back in regular service soon after 8AM....
Only report I saw this morning said wire was pulled down and there was an outage on 12 tracks. See what the evening reports are in a little while.
CAT problems near Perryville this morning had MARC backed up as well.
No link available.
This makes a very negative comment on our antiquated infrastructure and/or ability to design and maintain a functioning catenary.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Once again MARC service disrupted due to trees in the wires Guess more soft ground problems. This is what Amtrak gets trying to work around the nimbys desire to leave all trees on the ROW ?
Went south on NE corridor April 30. Trees may have washed out under the same rain load that collapsed CSX retaining wall in Baltimore. Some tracks in Corridor had water to the tie tops.
Baltimore to Washington disrupted due to storm damage to ancient CAT. This section of track seems to have more than its share of CAT problems.
MARC bulletin
All Penn Line service is stopped at this time due to severe weather which has resulted in problems with the overhead electric wires. All trains--Amtrak and MARC--between Washington and Perryville will hold in their current location until further notice. Updates will be provided as information is available.
Another failure BAL - WASH today
MARC Service Alert Train 523 the 8:10 am Perryville departure is experiencing delay just north of Martin Airport due to catenary wire issues. Expecting possible 20 to 25 minute delay. Updates to follow.
MARC Service Alert Due to speed restrictions in the B & P Tunnel, please expect 20-25 minute delays on all PENN Line services in both directions this in addition to the Amtrak heat orders set in place earlier this afternoon
Slightly off topic Amtrak is having to do emergency repairs to the B & P tunnel at Baltimore. Any one with information ?
MARC Service Alert MARC 537 (3:20pm dept BALT) is operating 30 minutes late en route to Washington, due to emergency track work in the B & P Tunnel as well as following a delayed Amtrak train. We apologize for any incon
Although not directly a CAT problem the signal lines have been knocked down slowing traffic south of Baltimore. Does this appears as one more symptom of lack of maintenance in the PC Conrail era ? At one time Amtrak was going to install commercial power back up for signals. Anyone know if any progress ?
LINK:
Some kind of problem between North Jersey coast line and NYP. First report said both wire and voltage maybe Henry6 can enlighten us ?
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/07/08/overhead-wire-problem-suspends-nj-transit-amtrak-trains/
Report service restored
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