Last time was from Bombardier. And now of course, Bombardier is kryptonite to Amtrak because of the problems with these custom-made trains that nobody had seen before (completely new design, right on the heels of the new “crashworthiness” specifications that the Federal Railroad Administration made up out of their heads). And this was after testing two existing trainsets, one from Sweden and another from Germany.
The federal government, incidentally, has been promising 160-mph speeds on the Northeast Corridor since the late 1960s. How do they think that telling the same lies over and over for this long can work for them?
LOL
When you’re the only game in town, you get to tell whatever lies you want.
Bottom line, nobody wants the passenger service at these rates - they’d go under in short order.
There is one thing I have to give credit for though. The acela train system is far more robust than the European systems when it comes to snow and other inclement weather.
The acela system just flies right along in snow conditions that would stall pretty much all the euro systems.
The heavier train sets and heavier gauge rail is to thank for that.
If they had taken train sets right from Europe and put then on the tracks here, you would have known what “dysfunctional” was when it started snowing. The only reason they can run those trains in Europe when it snows is because they constantly keep trains running even when no one is on, just to keep the tracks clear. If they have a hold up for even just a short time, then the snow gets too deep and they have to send special snow clearing trains out to try and clear the tracks. It can takes days to get things up and running again.
So, some may say the federal requirements for the heavier train was stupid, because it means that we can’t use “off the shelf” euro trains, but it seems to be just what the doctor ordered for this continent.
Remember, every continent has different transportation requirements. One size does not fit all.
You would never see this in Europe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0BBAHzar3M
Their trains just can’t do that sort of thing. Over an inch or two of snow on the tracks, and they grind to a halt.
And if the snow gets real bad, they can just put the old style electrics or diesels on the tracks to keep things going. That is because they use traditional rail specs for the acela system. Something that is impossible on the euro system.