Acela testing for 165mph in the works

[Paulus]

One thing worth noting is that the Acelas, due to FRA regulations, will only be allowed to go 150mph, not 160 (track speed is good for 160, signals are limited to 150, and the FRA didn't care to change that incongruency when Amtrak asked them fairly recently).

 

[jis]

One thing worth noting is that the Acelas, due to FRA regulations, will only be allowed to go 150mph, not 160 (track speed is good for 160, signals are limited to 150, and the FRA didn't care to change that incongruency when Amtrak asked them fairly recently).

Amtrak is currently negotiating this matter with FRA. So far the expectation is that the requisite changes will take place in regulations and Acelas will run at 160. But as usual one can never tell for sure until the proverbial fat lady sings.

The regulatory changes include changing the Tier II max speed to 160mph. That is about all the major regulatory change that is required, other than testing and certifying the trains.

BTW, the purpose of the tests this month is related to this activity between Amtrak and FRA, or so says my friend who happens to be the Chief Engineer of Amtrak's NEC HSR program. But then again he could be proved wrong too.

 

[PRR 60]

One thing worth noting is that the Acelas, due to FRA regulations, will only be allowed to go 150mph, not 160 (track speed is good for 160, signals are limited to 150, and the FRA didn't care to change that incongruency when Amtrak asked them fairly recently).

Amtrak is currently negotiating this matter with FRA. So far the expectation is that the requisite changes will take place in regulations and Acelas will run at 160. But as usual one can never tell for sure until the proverbial fat lady sings.

The regulatory changes include changing the Tier II max speed to 160mph. That is about all the major regulatory change that is required, other than testing and certifying the trains.

BTW, the purpose of the tests this month is related to this activity between Amtrak and FRA, or so says my friend who happens to be the Chief Engineer of Amtrak's NEC HSR program. But then again he could be proved wrong too.

I don't think that success in the effort to get the Acela trainsets qualified for 160mph is necessarily a given. Amtrak had a tough time getting des porcs to work at 150mph. If 160mph requires significant additional modifications, I wonder of Amtrak might find that extra 10mph is not so important after all.

 

[jis]

One thing worth noting is that the Acelas, due to FRA regulations, will only be allowed to go 150mph, not 160 (track speed is good for 160, signals are limited to 150, and the FRA didn't care to change that incongruency when Amtrak asked them fairly recently).

Amtrak is currently negotiating this matter with FRA. So far the expectation is that the requisite changes will take place in regulations and Acelas will run at 160. But as usual one can never tell for sure until the proverbial fat lady sings.

The regulatory changes include changing the Tier II max speed to 160mph. That is about all the major regulatory change that is required, other than testing and certifying the trains.

BTW, the purpose of the tests this month is related to this activity between Amtrak and FRA, or so says my friend who happens to be the Chief Engineer of Amtrak's NEC HSR program. But then again he could be proved wrong too.

I don't think that success in the effort to get the Acela trainsets qualified for 160mph is necessarily a given. Amtrak had a tough time getting des porcs to work at 150mph. If 160mph requires significant additional modifications, I wonder of Amtrak might find that extra 10mph is not so important after all.

I have heard that they will drop the 160 mph if it requires significant additional modification. They don't have the money to spend on 10mph. Seriously, the engineers involved are not really nincompoops as some seem to think they are. They will give it a shot, and if reasonably achievable they will get there otherwise they will drop it. Now what Amtrak management might do is a totally different matter however.

As I have mentioned in more than one of my earlier posts on the subject, one thing they will very critically look at is the hunting behavior, specially of the power heads. That is why tests have to be run, to calibrate and characterize the behavior of the sets in day to day operation. This work has not been done for above 150mph yet, though they have been run at 160+ before in tests.