Whoa.. New trains for the North East Corridor !

Sweet, I had heard the Acela was reaching its end of life, is there an in service date

Pretty neat looking.

Those are artist's renditions that have been around for quite awhile. Only recently have the requests-for-proposals gone out, so what the trains actually look like is anyone's guess, but some variation of the Siemens Velaro looks to be the front-runner, based on how the ACS-64's are performing.

---PCJ

I still like the look of the classic GG-1.   These are pretty nifty but they look more like a space ship than a train.

Joe

'Tis the nature of high speed trainsets nowadays that they look like they came out of the Play-Doh fun factory.

Looks cool, though...

Rusty

Next thing you know Amtrak will have all their trains being controlled by computer. 

The third picture sure looks like there are real people on that platform. Does anyone recognize the station or buildings in picture two.

Joe B.

When will Lionel release the Legacy version?

Speaking of the famous GG1s. Back in 1999 when I was working at the Great Train Store in White Plains, NY one day in walks Ceaser Vagera (sorry I know I am spelling his name wrong. He is the industrial designer who's company designs railroad locomotives and passenger cars. I had just one question for him. Since so many of us like the look of the GG1 I asked him why can't you just design a updated GG1 body with up to date inners. His answer back to me was if I do that I would be out a job. My job is to come up with new designs. His company did the design work on the Genius Locomotive, the Acela Train Set, the M7s and M8s for the New York State MTA.

I have his business card. I believe his company is located in Fairfield County, CT. now.

Photo two is Boston South Station, confirmed with a quick Google Maps aerial view.

The third photo is no doubt Photoshopped, possibly over an image of an arriving Acela (but keeping the shadow), which would explain why the people on the platform actually look like they are seeing a train pulling in.

---PCJ

Probably never in a million years.

Lionel has not honored it's contract yet with The New York State MTA to produce a certain number of truly different items. They have only produced one subway car body and changing a few things on them and calling them 3 different car models. They had made the M7 car model in Metro-North and Long Island Railroads and calls them 2 different models which of cause they are only one model. They also used their old dies to produce a station building and the operating billboard with the blinking light. Look at the amount of subway car models that MTH has produced in the same amount of years but the MTA just went with Lionel because they are better known to the general public.

Cool!

Peter

Looking at the 3rd pict, it appears that the train is "too fat" for the platform, and that massive and expensive station modifications will have to be done in the future...probably at a cost of billions!

Could it have been designed by the French!!????

Greg 

The engine will be pretty useless unless Amtrak gets their new Right of Way in New England and straightens out those curves in Mass and RI.  Took the Acela from Philly to Providence recently.  We screamed in NJ all the way to Newark.  Then it was slow to NY and slow in Mass.  We picked up speed at times in RI, but nothing like the Princeton Trenton area of the NEC.

Ron

Yes quite a few speed restrictions. I believe through the Baltimore tunnel it slows to 10mph as well. 

If this is the fate of Wash, DC. to Boston...my next trip will be via piggy back ride !

Well, if Amtrak wants fat trains, the Frence can build them!

I hope the new trains will not have the present Ugcela livery!

And I think Amtrak needs two different types of trains:  One each direction of NYP.  At the present time, you can't run 150 mph trains to the south, so why run that type of train there,

Wellll.....  They could be given a fitting burial at sea as per the precedent for denizens of the rails from the megalopolis in which they roamed...

Chumming with ChooChoo's Link

They could be dropped off the southern shore of Martha's Vineyard, for instance.....amidst the Atlantic 'swells' thereof!

I mean, what a classy habitat the Acelas would be for the fishies....a definite step up from subway cars, eh what??

KD

(And, yet, they'll write you a fine if they catch you throwing a plastic pop bottle into the local waterway!!!  Ah, yes, it all makes so much sense to the common man.)

Actually a better use would be on the Detroit to Chicago line. The track is being updated to double line , with concrete ties, and the traffic has increased so that additional cars have been added to the consist.

Even superliners have been sighted in Dearborn Michigan.

When I road from Ann Arbor to Chi town it was only 30 dollars, and 15 for the kids... 

made it there in 4 hours flat.... imagine that trip in 2 and a half hours...

The new engine has "Magic EMF Induction". Nothing touching the catenary.

quote:

And I think Amtrak needs two different types of trains:  One each direction of NYP.  At the present time, you cant run 150 mph trains, so why run that type of train there,

Obviously you've never boarded a train in Penn Station.

Everyone stands around the big station board in the waiting room and waits for the track number to be posted. Once its posted (but before the announcement can be made), everyone bolts for the ONE escalator down to the track like a herd of stampeding cattle, and files down to the platform on an escalator just wide enough to fit on. So why would you unload a train, just to make half the people on it get off of one train, go UP a one person escalator, watch the board, and stampede back down, when they can just stay on the train and only half of the train has to be herded down to the platform?

The Acela is a premium service. In addition to the fact that it *CAN* go fast, it also has nicer seats, makes less stops, and costs more for a ticket... thereby putting money in Amtrak's pocket so they can buy more trains.

Second hand equipment for us Midwest folks!....sure, why not?  Per my former sister-in-law we still circle the wagons here west of the Appalachians and east of the Sierras!

Besides the improved trackage (forget for now the reduced curvature and increased banking necessary on many curves), how many road/highway crossings are there on that route that would have to be either eliminated (e.g., under/overpasses), or safety-improved to permit Acela-like speeds? 

Also, what arrangements would have to be arranged to ensure Acela priority on that trackage?....i.e., no or limited freight traffic?  I'm not a student of the current Acela corridor/right-of-way, but I was of the understanding that its trackage, besides being highly refined, was fairly dedicated, and also fairly limited in grade crossings.

20+ years ago when I would often travel Japan's Shinkansen on business, especially between Tokyo and Osaka, I recall learning of a multitude of features that accommodated the speed and safety of the train and right-of-way.  For example, walls and fences...necessary for either noise abatement in high density populated areas or to ensure no citizens, fauna, et al would wander onto the tracks.  And we're NOT talking farm pasture fencing or even the (poorly maintained and ineffective) fencing along interstate highways. 

Thinking about the Detroit-Chicago corridor for the trackage you mentioned, it boggles the mind to think not only about the changes necessary to accommodate ye-olde-Acela, but the tax tag that largely we Meeeeshiganders would have to bear. 

Ouch!!

Last time I rode Amtrak from Flint into Chicago, from Porter, Indiana, into downtown Chicago?........with the amount of freight traffic we encountered, were side-lined and delayed for, I felt like our 'little ol' passenger train' was akin to a fire hydrant surrounded by tall dogs!!  Of course, Acela heading into Chicago could be more like the Chihuahua in a street fight with Great Danes!

Ah, well, if it's destined to be, it'll be due to the wisdom and foresight of our esteemed, elected, knowledgeable politicians...as usual...who will have nothing but our best interests taken to heart!  Right???

All is well!...................................................

KD

When Southwest Airlines got started, the passengers they were going after were not those from other airlines.  They were going for those who used I-10,35, and 45.  Price and service to compete with the CAR, not the PLANE.  There are LOTS of travelers rail can pull from that market.  And various services in that market:  Local and express.  Conventional rail can stop in those places planes and HSR cannot.  Less cost to build and maintain, hence lower cost to the traveler.  Think non-HSR California. People forget not everybody has the money to ride Acela.  And the SWA of bus companies is growing:  megabus.  (They use a small "m", so I am).

Ron - The Acela hits about 150mph is parts of RI. The video below is from Kingston Station.

If you took the Acela from Philly to Prov, you didn't go through MA. You may be confusing MA with CT. 

The Eastern Corridor has the political power to get first dibs on high-speed trains. There is no way any other part of the country will take precedence over Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington DC so long as the AMTRAK is a government operation.

Second dibs will go to the West Coast Corridor.

You may be confusing MA with CT. 

Right you are Matt A.  Thanks for clarifying that up.  I was confused, but should have known better since I did see some New Haven Engines as I went through CT.

Ron

trains are evolving in style to the Walt Disney World monorail, at least in design.  who will win the O-Gauge rights Lionel or MTH

Steve

The 150 mph video would have been real neat if I had not just watched  a NASCAR race.  Acela can seem kind of tame, you really notice the 60 mph slower speed.

What is Acela's fastest speed zone?

Right there in the video.

What's NASCAR's 'speed limit'?

---PCJ