Maybe this is the cheapest path if they weren’t able to fix the cracking disc rotors on the brakes. It’s been 7 years since that problem was found...was it ever fixed?
Yeah, it was fixed. So were the malfunctioning yaw dampers and the pantograph shrouds that kept getting ripped off the locomotives by strong winds. Instead of suing the Federal Railroad Administration for unrealistic requirements (which meant that the tilt angle had to be reduced from 9 degrees to four), Amtrak sued Bombardier instead. Since we now have Tier IV requirements (Acela is the only type that meets Tier III), it’ll cost more money for these replacements for the Acela Express rather than less.