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Acela 2 on its way to testing

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longhorn

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Alstom's new TGV powercar/ Pendolino pax car mashup called Acela 2 is on its way to the Transportation Technology Center proving ground near Pueblo, Colo facility.
 
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MarcVD

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Not very nice, the difference of body profile between the traction units and the passenger cars !
 

rf_ioliver

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Not very nice, the difference of body profile between the traction units and the passenger cars !

I'd heard about that, but now after seeing it I'm wondering about the aerodynamics of the whole thing...
 

williamn

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Not very aesthetically pleasing for above reason. What's the thinking (or lack of) behind different loco/carriage profiles? Unusual to see a painted Amtrak train too.
 

MarcVD

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Could it be that the carriages tilt but the traction units don't ?
 

Giugiaro

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Essentially this but with a different look:

csm_TGV_PENDULAIRE_0912866462.jpg
 

TRAX

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Alstom's new TGV powercar/ Pendolino pax car mashup called Acela 2 is on its way to the Transportation Technology Center proving ground near Pueblo, Colo facility.

It’s an Avelia Liberty, not Pendolino (nor a TGV which is the SNCF brand for french high-speed trains). ;)
 
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longhorn

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It’s an Avelia Liberty, not Pendolino (nor a TGV which is the SNCF brand for french high-speed trains). ;)

And what is an Avelia Liberty? TGV power cars with tilt Pendolino pax cars. Its a "mutt" but one that has proven itself.
 

TRAX

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And what is an Avelia Liberty? TGV power cars with tilt Pendolino pax cars. Its a "mutt" but one that has proven itself.
Nope. Avelia Liberty is a different product from the Avelia Pendolino. Also, TGV isn’t a train model but a train service. The double-deck high-speed trains SNCF uses in France are Avelia Duplex, also another product. Sure there is common equipment between all these (although the Liberty and Horizon power cars are of a new technical design compared to the Duplex’s, hence the shorter body due to more compact equipment), but the Avelia Liberty is too different in design and specification to be considered anything else.
Things have names, might as well use them.
Or if we follow your logic, we might as well refer to Class 700s as Desiro UKs (as they are based on those)...
 

Bayum

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Regardless of the name of the unit... It looks very... different. The profile of the power car compared to the first carriage - the power car just looks very boxy. Like adding a right angled scalene triangle to a short cuboid. The carriages themselves look interesting... I can’t put my finger on them, but the colouring in the livery unnerves me.
 

Bletchleyite

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That fell out of the ugly tree and hit all the branches on the way down, didn't it? Have Alstom lost the ability to make rolling stock that doesn't look...weird?
 

longhorn

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Nope. Avelia Liberty is a different product from the Avelia Pendolino. Also, TGV isn’t a train model but a train service. The double-deck high-speed trains SNCF uses in France are Avelia Duplex, also another product. Sure there is common equipment between all these (although the Liberty and Horizon power cars are of a new technical design compared to the Duplex’s, hence the shorter body due to more compact equipment), but the Avelia Liberty is too different in design and specification to be considered anything else.
Things have names, might as well use them.
Or if we follow your logic, we might as well refer to Class 700s as Desiro UKs (as they are based on those)...

You are right, the Avelia Liberty is what the product is called. But I will be shocked if another railroad orders this tailor made product from the Northeast Corridor. TGV power cars with Pendolino pax cars are how Amrak employees are describing it, as its the only way Alstom could meet Amtraks' operating and cost requirements. Its brilliant really, pulling from two proven products to make a product that hopefully can endure the rigors and hardships of the Northeast Corridor. As Siemens is now finding out, with the Sprinters (based on Vectrons) shutting down more and more due to the harsh cycles of accelerating,decelerating, running 135 mph, and multiple voltages.
 

TRAX

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You are right, the Avelia Liberty is what the product is called. But I will be shocked if another railroad orders this tailor made product from the Northeast Corridor. TGV power cars with Pendolino pax cars are how Amrak employees are describing it, as its the only way Alstom could meet Amtraks' operating and cost requirements. Its brilliant really, pulling from two proven products to make a product that hopefully can endure the rigors and hardships of the Northeast Corridor. As Siemens is now finding out, with the Sprinters (based on Vectrons) shutting down more and more due to the harsh cycles of accelerating,decelerating, running 135 mph, and multiple voltages.

To be honest I’d think the employees would rather call them just Acelas or New Acelas ? They’re usually not the type to care too much about names - only the manufacturer and me do that :E
And yes I agree that these probably won’t be ordered again apart from NEC fleet strengthening... not that there are many American lines suitable for those anyway.
 

AlexNL

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Avelia Liberty is the name given to them by Alstom. Avelia is the umbrella term they use for all high speed trains in their portfolio, similar to how they group all regional trains under the Coradia moniker nowadays.

It looks like the powercar doesn't have its final livery yet, on the promotional imagery released a while ago it looked like this:
upload_2020-2-18_18-26-58.png
 

nlogax

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That's an unfortunate-looking beastie. The side profile mixup doesn't help, but even then it'll still be one of the most characterful things to grace NEC metals in many years.

As long as it does the business between DC and Boston and doesn't suffer from PRR Metroliner-like unreliability then looks be damned. It's hugely encouraging to see so much investment in US railways.
 

RichJF

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Add some plastic fins/bodywork to the bottom of the powercar so at least the rear of the powercar matches up with the first carriage.
 

AlexNL

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Add some plastic fins/bodywork to the bottom of the powercar so at least the rear of the powercar matches up with the first carriage.
But that may have negative effects when going through corners while tilting. The powercars don't tilt, so there will always be a misalignment between the first/last coach and the adjacent power car. I'm guessing Alstom's engineers found out that the current design has the least negative impact on aerodynamics.
 

Jozhua

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I actually like the look of the Avelia Liberty, looks kind of futuristic, in a similar way to the Wipeout game franchise!

Does anyone know if they're keeping the old Acela Express fleet? They're 20 years old, but that makes them younger than a lot of other trains Amtrak runs!
 

nlogax

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I actually like the look of the Avelia Liberty, looks kind of futuristic, in a similar way to the Wipeout game franchise!

Does anyone know if they're keeping the old Acela Express fleet? They're 20 years old, but that makes them younger than a lot of other trains Amtrak runs!

Rumored to be retired + scrapped during 2022. I remember seeing them being trialed at 30th St during 2000 and thinking 'whoah, it's the future'. Took me a little while to notice that beyond the sleek loco ends the stock was actually quite utilitarian-looking and very much of its time.
 

nlogax

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The Liberty set has gone on to commence high-speed testing out in Pueblo.


Looks pretty good on pristine test track in fine plains weather but I'm looking forward to see it perform on NEC metals on a winter's day. At least at speed it's much harder to make out that awkward front-end and trailer profile mismatch.
 

Jamesrob637

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The Liberty set has gone on to commence high-speed testing out in Pueblo.


Looks pretty good on pristine test track in fine plains weather but I'm looking forward to see it perform on NEC metals on a winter's day. At least at speed it's much harder to make out that awkward front-end and trailer profile mismatch.

Is that real or just amazing CGI?
 

AlexNL

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That's real. Tests are going on and the train has reached speeds up to 165mph. :)
 

Taunton

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It will be interesting to see how Amtrak gets on with fixed-formation articulated sets, instead of their traditional approach to mechanical issues of "cutting out cars" and having the rest continue.

Regarding the locos being a different profile to the coaches, again that's something just alien to European eyes. It's not just the bodywork, the livery application doesn't align either. I recall the Chicago rapid transit, by the 1970s, had three separate batches of cars, all compatible and able to multiple together, but with completely different body styles, which looked ridiculous trained together. Eventually a design house (I think it was Sundberg-Ferar) got a job to achieve something of it, and came up with quite a clever livery and striping application to make it look less obvious. Then the next batch of cars were delivered, with quite a different livery ...
 
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