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Amtrak Cancels Acela Service Friday Updated: Friday, Apr. 15, 2005 - 4:46 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Amtrak said it had canceled service Friday on its Acela Express because of problems with brakes on the high-speed trains that carry passengers between Washington, New York and Boston.
Cracks were found in brake components on most coaches of the trains during routine inspections, Amtrak said in a statement, adding that no brake failures or other safety problems had occurred.
Most other Amtrak service was scheduled to operate normally. Amtrak said its Metroliner service will operate Friday, with the exception of train No. 102, the 10:00 a.m. departure from Washington to New York, which was also canceled.
Amtrak normally runs 15 Acela weekday roundtrips between New York and Washington and 11 between New York and Boston.
The express trains will remain out of service until the brake problems are fixed.
Amtrak said Acela accounts for about 20 percent of its Boston-New York-Washington weekday service.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
North American Railroader Member # 3398
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It drives me nuts. Amtrak spends all this money on high speed service, that doesn't work. Don't get me wrong, high speed trains are a great form of transportation, but personally Acela is a letdown. When I rode Acela, both ways between Washington and Boston, about a year after it came out, I so excited, to get to ride a European-style, high speed train (I had also ridden the X200 and ICE trains when they were on tour in the US). Was I disapointed. Although the comfort and "newness" of the train were certainly great, it was so much slower than I was expecting, not to mention late. On top of this, the trains constantly breakdown (as noted in the article posted by shanghaiamtrak) and serve such a limited part of the nation. If you ask me, Amtrak should have stuck with reliable high speed trains (anyone remember the GG1?) instead of wasting money on trains have so many malfunctions. What else is new?
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by North American Railroader: It drives me nuts. Amtrak spends all this money on high speed service, that doesn't work. Don't get me wrong, high speed trains are a great form of transportation, but personally Acela is a letdown. When I rode Acela, both ways between Washington and Boston, about a year after it came out, I so excited, to get to ride a European-style, high speed train (I had also ridden the X200 and ICE trains when they were on tour in the US). Was I disapointed. Although the comfort and "newness" of the train were certainly great, it was so much slower than I was expecting, not to mention late. On top of this, the trains constantly breakdown (as noted in the article posted by shanghaiamtrak) and serve such a limited part of the nation. If you ask me, Amtrak should have stuck with reliable high speed trains (anyone remember the GG1?) instead of wasting money on trains have so many malfunctions. What else is new?
Agree Absolutely!!!!! I was in grad school at College Park, MD at the time and had the opportunity to ride both the X2000 and the ICE. I loved them both. The ICE was my favorite but the X2000 would have better suited Amtrak's needs.
What the %@*& were they thinking with those Acela trainsets?
Amtrak could have provided better high speed service sooner for less expense had they simply gone with proven technology and bought the X2000 available off the shelf a decade ago.
The Acela decision (and by golly, 'American Flyer' was a better name too......Lionel taught us that!) is perhaps the worst ever made at Amtrak. I wish David Gunn had been around then.
Tanner929 Member # 3720
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And this happans on the exact day ol' GWB wants to sell his train set. This should bring top dollar (Perhaps thats the plan?) The local New Haven TV news station went down to interview the stranded. A station employee mentioned that this took 9,000 seats out of service near sold out trains, and its ashame this happend when the local collages (Yale Univ) was getting out for a weeks break, more perfect timing. Commador Vanderbilt where art though!
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by Tanner929: And this happans on the exact day ol' GWB wants to sell his train set. This should bring top dollar (Perhaps thats the plan?) The local New Haven TV news station went down to interview the stranded. A station employee mentioned that this took 9,000 seats out of service near sold out trains, and its ashame this happend when the local collages (Yale Univ) was getting out for a weeks break, more perfect timing. Commador Vanderbilt where art though!
This will simply be used as 'evidence' by both sides....Mineta will stand up and offer this as 'proof' that Amtrak doesn't have it's act together and should not continue to receive federal money.
Others, generally more honest than Mineta, will point to this as evidence that Amtrak has always been so horribly underfunded that their very ability to perform routine maintenance is now threatened.
Sadly, the Acela program was so botched because a previous Amtrak administration rushed to create something entirely new looking for the proverbial 'Magic Bullet' (or 'Silver Streak' if you will) that would both improve service and satisfy political hacks and critics such as Norm Mineta.
Should of just bought the X2000.
Tanner929 Member # 3720
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True elvis,
The New York City MTA made the same mistake in the 1980's. Looking to get rid of old buses and subway cars they brought sleek "looking" items instead of fixing the tracks and roads. The buses cracked and the trains though better then the old model did not run much smoother. Will we ever see the day when a train can get from NYC to Washington in less then 5 hours?
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