Dominic - indeed the Alstom Avelia Liberty (aka Acela replacement) has separate power cars (electric locomotives) - the complicating feature of the passenger car set is that they are supposed to be articulated - sharing a bogie between adjacent cars - and with the first and last cars having a 'normal' bogie next to the power car (which has two bogies). This means that it isn't easy to add/remove cars from the trainset without having a crane or something to separate the passenger cars within the set. I suppose one could have two or three coach sets made up that share the inner bogies. But since Alstom makes the claim that the articulated design is also a safety feature to help prevent the coaches from 'jack-knifing' or individually falling over in an accident, having a break in the articulation would seem to reduce that safety feature. But, I'm speculating here about how one might add/remove cars (if that is desired).
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