Amtrak’s new Acela fleet, scheduled to enter service on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in 2021, continues to progress with its high-speed testing at Transportation Technology Center near Pueblo, Colo., as the first Acela prototype completed another milestone by traveling at speeds up to 165 mph, although the train’s initial top operating speed will be 160 mph.
The first of 28 new Acela Express high-speed trainsets that Alstom is building for Amtrak in Hornell, N.Y., departed for the Federal Railroad Administration facility in Pueblo, Colo., for high-speed testing on Feb. 17.
New Amtrak state-of-the-art, high-speed trainsets are scheduled to enter service on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in 2021, as Amtrak and Alstom have partnered to introduce the new Acela fleet.
Amtrak recently announced the progress on its new high-speed Acela trainsets that it says “will redefine the customer experience on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor when they enter service in 2021.”
Amtrak’s Acela Express, which replaced the iconic Metroliner service that helped define the Northeast Corridor for the better part of 30 years, is now approaching age 20 (kind of old for a train). The equipment, popular with customers but sort-of affectionately called “The Fast Pig” in railroading circles, will soon be replaced with new, lighter, sleeker and faster trainsets from Alstom.
RAILWAY AGE AT THE ALSTOM MANUFACTURING FACILITY, HORNELL, N.Y., JUNE 12, 2019: Alstom Transportation is building the next generation of high-speed trainsets for Amtrak‘s Northeast Corridor Acela Express service. The new equipment is scheduled to enter service sometime in 2021 between Washington, D.C. and Boston.
Amtrak recently announced that on May 4 it would be expanding its Acela Express service with an additional round trip on Saturdays.
The first replacement trainset for Amtrak’s high-speed service is just a shell of itself – and that’s good news.
Amtrak has unveiled artist’s impressions of interiors for its forthcoming Alstom-built Avelia Liberty high-speed trainsets, which will replace the current Acela Express fleet on the Boston-New York-Washington D.C. Northeast Corridor (NEC) from 2021 onwards.
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued preliminary findings on the Feb. 6 incident in which an Acela Express trainset experienced a separation between two cars at a speed of approximately 125 mph.
