Acela express dispute settled

International Railway Journal, April, 2004

AMTRAK and a consortium of Bombardier Transportation and Alstom have reached an out-of-court settlement of their legal dispute dating from November 2001 involving the $US 1.2 billion procurement of 20 Acela Express high-speed trains and 15 electric locomotives for operation on the Northeast Corridor linking Boston, New York, mid Washington DC.

Amtrak has agreed to pay up to $US 42.5 million of the $US 70 million in payments it has withheld from the consortium. A 10-year maintenance contract with Northeast Corridor Maintenance Service Company for the trains will be terminated in October 2006 instead of 2013, with Amtrak assuming all responsibility for maintenance at that time.

The settlement, said Mr David Gunn, Amtrak's president and CEO, is a better outcome than "continuing to spend unnecessary time and money on costly and attention-diverting litigation." He said that efforts now will instead be focused "on improving the performance of Acela Express and delivering the best service we know how for the passengers."

Mr Paul Tellier, Bombardier's president and CEO, said the consortium is satisfied with the out-of-court settlement and "will respect Amtrak's strategy to provide maintenance services and will take the necessary steps to ensure a seamless transition between now and October 2006."

The Acela Express project has been trouble-plagued since shortly after its inception in 1996, when Amtrak awarded the Bombardier/Alstom consortium a performance-based contract for the equipment and its operation and maintenance. First, it was discovered that the car bodies were slightly wider than specified, which limited the degree of tilt through some curves. Then testing revealed excessive bogie hunting and wheel wear, which delayed the start of revenue service for several months.

Shortly after the first trains entered service in December 2000, cracks were discovered on power car yaw-damper brackets, which caused the entire fleet to be taken out of service for further modifications. There were also numerous small but annoying technical glitches. All the technical problems have now finally been resolved.

Despite the teething problems and delays, Acela Express is growing in popularity, and more than six million passengers have used the service since its introduction.

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