Get ready for a great ride

Railway Age, May, 2000 by William C. Vantuono

Amtrak's long-awaited Acela Express is poised for a summer debut. You'll find it worth the wait.

April 7, 2000, on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, just south of Wilmington, Del.: Acela Express trainset No. 3 glides along at a gentle 45 mph, restricted by an "approach medium" cab signal indication. Inside the cab, the atmosphere is one of anticipation--kind of like a racehorse waiting to break out of the starting gate. We're behind Amtrak No. 89, the Silver Palm, which is limited to 90 mph by RoadRailer equipment. Engineer Rick Stolnis, a 26-year veteran behind the throttle and a principal member of Amtrak's Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Project Team, scans the color LCD analog instrumentation he helped design. He has been deliberately holding onto the reins, trying to create some breathing room between No. 89 (which he jokingly refers to as the "fruit train") and the thoroughbred he commands.

A few moments later, the cab signal shows "clear." Stolnis swiftly pushes the throttle lever all the way forward. The train-set, drawing 11,000 volts out of the catenary, begins to rapidly pick up speed, the 12,500 hp shared between its two power cars feeding a.c. traction motors. Though the cab is well-insulated and quiet, you can hear the low moan emanating from the engine compartment just behind it.

The acceleration is smooth, yet hard to ignore. Stolnis, who seated at the controls looks like a cross between a fighter pilot and a NASCAR driver, cracks a satisfied grin as the speedometer begins climbing at a rate of about one mph per second. In about a minute and a half, the trainset is cruising along at 135 mph, well short of the 170 mph it's capable of attaining, but at the revenue speed it will routinely make between New York and Washington. "How's she feel?" I ask. "This is my Porsche," he answers.

A few minutes later, we're closing in on No. 89 again, and the cab signal drops back to "approach medium." Stolnis comes off the throttle and engages the trainset's blended braking system--a potent combination of regenerative brakes, which feed juice back into the catenary ("Amtrak makes money every time we stop this thing," he remarks), disc brakes, and tread brakes. Swiftly, firmly, smoothly, the speed decreases to 45 mph. "This trainset has unbelievable stopping power," Stolnis says. "It's better at 50% braking than our old equipment is at 100%."

Back in the First Class car, the ride is smooth, quiet, comfortable. The tilt system has been turned off for today's test run, so there's a little bit of buffeting around some curves, but not enough to create a bad ride. The tall, wide windows are a pleasant departure from the narrow slits in Amtrak's existing Amfleet equipment ("Amcans," as some call them), contributing to an overall feel of roominess. The seats, with their adjustable headrests and generous reclining capability, are quite comfortable--much more so than first-class airline seats. Every few rows, there are facing seats separated by tables with flip-down leaves, a feature several laptop-toting test engineers are enjoying on this run.

The rumor mill grinds away

The Acela Express is Amtrak's flagship train, the one vehicle upon which, it's widely perceived, the railroad is pinning its hopes for operational self-sufficiency. For Amtrak, the trainset has become the Holy Grail of U.S. high speed rail, but its introduction has been delayed by technical problems. As a result, it's become a whipping boy for those who take pleasure in pointing out that Amtrak just can't seem to do anything right. A name that some consider bizarre (most people have no idea what "Acela" means, and the fact that it must be explained to them tends to reinforce the feeling that Amtrak made a big mistake dropping the well-known, well-respected Metroliner name), and a $20 million advertising campaign even more bizarre than the name (know what "ASPINCONTROLB" means?)--have only added fuel to the fire.

That Amtrak launched an expensive ad campaign around the same time the Acela Express's test program started, leaving little time to correct unexpected (but usually inevitable) technical glitches, is unfortunate. But as far as the trainset is concerned, all of this second-guessing and "see, I told you so" smirking is undeserved. Much of it has probably been perpetrated by people who have never come within sighting distance of the Acela Express, much less have ridden it. The rumors that have been circulating range from the subtie ("the trainset won't go faster than 130 mph in revenue service") to the ridiculous ("the electro-magnetic interference is so bad it's causing track switches to throw by themselves").

Here are the facts, as explained to Railway Age by both Amtrak and the supplier, the consortium of Bombardier and Alstom:

* The Acela Express was experiencing wheel wear and truck oscillation problems, but these have been "completely eliminated," says Bombardier/Alstom, by adjustments and minor modifications to the suspension system. The trucks will not have to be redesigned and replaced, as has been rumored.