New livery for forthcoming Amtrak Avelia Liberty sets

[nlogax]

It's almost Rail Blue, isn't it..?

http://railcolornews.com/2017/10/08...-acela-high-speed-trains-will-look-like-this/

 

[Bletchleyite]

Reminds me of the newer of the MML liveries i.e.:

 

[rf_ioliver]

Just wondering why the carriages have different profiles to the locomotives .... of course it could just be the rendering but the engineer in me is wondering about the aerodynamics of that rather than the colour sceme..

Ian

 

[nlogax]

Just wondering why the carriages have different profiles to the locomotives .... of course it could just be the rendering but the engineer in me is wondering about the aerodynamics of that rather than the colour sceme..

Ian

Presumably only the passenger cars tilt, therefore they'll need to sit within AAR Plate C gauge.

 

[axlecounter]

That's what I had read. The locomotives don't tilt.

 

[Groningen]

The front looks like a TGV.

 

[jopsuk]

The front looks like a TGV.

Not quite as much as the existing power cars- but then both the existing and replacement are Alstom built and based on, surprise surprise, TGVs

 

[abn444]

The livery reminds me a bit of the planned ScotRail HST livery

https://www.railengineer.uk/2017/03/23/scotrails-new-hsts/

 

[Drsatan]

I wonder why Amtrak are replacing Acela sets that are less than 17 years old?

 

[MarcVD]

I wonder why Amtrak are replacing Acela sets that are less than 17 years old?

Because, as far as I know, they are a nightmare to maintain. And this is not appreciated at all on this side of the Atlantic. Double expansion steam engines were disliked for the same reason. This maintenance complexity is a characteristic of almost all Alstom-built equipment in the 1990-2000 era. Amtrak HHP-8 locs were abandoned for the same reason, and in Europe, SNCF BB36000, SNCB 1300, CFL 3000 have the same issues. This is one of the reasons of the commercial failure of the Prima series. Even if it is less true, the bad reputation sticks. And it was probably one of the reasons already (not the only one, I know) why the swedish Rc4 was preferred over the french CC21000 in 1977. This is less of an issue on European railways where rolling stock maintenance is done by government employees but in private companies, maintenance costs is a very important factor.

 

[ac6000cw]

This is less of an issue on European railways where rolling stock maintenance is done by government employees but in private companies, maintenance costs is a very important factor.

Amtrak is a (federal) government owned company. But I agree with you - it's maintenance costs (and the relatively low passenger capacity) of the existing Acela trains that is driving their replacement.

 

[daikilo]

The front looks like a TGV.

Well, its based on the AGV!

Also, earlier images showed the power-cars as tilting also (inage from Google, copyright Alstom/meconopsis).

The only transition I can see on the new image is between the leading and second vehicle is the roof-line to adapt between the shapes. What strikes me however is the lack of windows in the power-car suggesting no passengers.

 

[nlogax]

The side body transition is definitely there..

 

[Groningen]

I think that the Acela was built on the ICE and/or X2000, when those 2 trains were in the USA in 1993. From Wikipedia: Amtrak will retire all current (Acela) trains by the end of 2022. Remember that ICE 1 in Germany is running since 1991 and the TGV since 1981, but do not know whether those first timers are still in service.

 

[MarcVD]

Acela has essentially Alsthom ancestry, nothing to do with ICE or X2000. And yes, ICE1 and first generation TGV are still in service today.

 

[Groningen]

As said before the builders of the ICE were so angry at/on the USA; that they made no attempt to sell their trains in the USA. Making the trains expensive. The reason why is unknown to me.