I road the Acela Express round trip again from New Haven to DC this past weekend. It was very enjoyable, as usual. Some of the interior almost looks like a space station.
I did get a scare yesterday though when just before the Newark station, heading north, the train stopped dead. Lights were on but all other power appeared to be off. A conductor announced there was a technical problem and we might be here "a few minutes." This brought back bad memories of the Nov. 12, 2005 trip returning to New Haven from DC when a power outage at Stamford ended up being a 4 hour delay. That was a nightmare. But thankfully this time the train was underway again within 10 minutes and we got back to New Haven only 15 minutes late.
Some of you who know more about the technical aspects of these trains might be more familiar with what would cause an incident like this. In any case, it was worth the added expense to go with Acela to shave a little time off the trip. Just eliminating a lot of those stops makes the ride seem even faster.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
In general I don't know much about technical aspects, but in this case, given the weather we've been having in the NE, I wonder if the delay might be heat related.
Posted by TNCMAXQ (Member # 4875) on :
At Union Station in DC there was a notice saying something about "heat restrictions" affecting the Maryland commuter rail line. I wasn't sure exactly what that meant though it was not as hot yesterday as it is today. One other thing I saw yesterday was guys working on the tracks in NY and CT. So I figured that might have accounted for some of the short delay.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
TNCMAXQ wrote: "At Union Station in DC there was a notice saying something about "heat restrictions" affecting the Maryland commuter rail line."
In general, heat restrictions are put in place as a safeguard against the possibility of "sun kinks" in the rails. These can occur due to rail expansion under extreme heat conditions, and can obviously lead to derailments, as the rail can deform or bend enough to rip itself right off the ties.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
I'm not sure what heat restrictions have to do with power problems! This could be any number of things - a couple of likely ones: - Train tripped something and needed rebooting - Overhead catenary supply interrupted (lights are probably on a battery backup for safety reasons).
Geoff M.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
I'm taking my first Acela trip in a few hours. Traveling from Washington Union Station to Philadelphia. I hope Acela is all it's worked up to be! I upgraded to first class using my AGR coupons, and I'm not sure what to expect. I'll find out in a few hours!
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