New flaws force halt in Acela service
Amtrak says repairs may take weeks longer

By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, 8/16/2002

Facing worsening problems on its premier service, Amtrak officials will shut down the Acela Express trains again today after inspectors found additional, serious cracks in shock absorber brackets on nearly all of its high-tech locomotives.

Amtrak confirmed yesterday that a more thorough inspection found cracks in brackets deep inside the suspension of the locomotives where the brackets are welded to the locomotive body, requiring extensive repairs that could keep the Canadian-manufactured trains out of service for weeks longer than previously anticipated.

The equipment headaches intensified when further inspections found similar cracks in shock absorbers of 15 conventional locomotives manufactured by the same firm. Those units, which pull trains on local routes in the Northeast corridor, were also removed from service as a precaution, forcing Amtrak to cancel more trains and scramble for replacements.

By Wednesday, inspections had already found cracks in the suspension structure used to stabilize lateral movement of the locomotives in 11 of the 16 Acela Express locomotive sets. Each Acela Express train has a locomotive at each end, and the whole train operates as a single unit.

By yesterday afternoon, Amtrak had taken out of service all 18 Acela Express locomotive sets and the 15 conventional locomotives, a total of 51 locomotives. It was a huge hit for a cash-strapped railroad that began losing an estimated $1 million a day when the Acela Express service first shut down Monday.

The 15 conventional locomotives removed from service were manufactured by Bombardier of North America, the same Canadian firm that made the Acela Express trains. Some of the conventional locomotives had been providing service in the more popular Acela Express time slots.

Amtrak officials said yesterday the system would try to keep its regular schedule on the popular Washington-New York-Boston route. However, the shutdown left Amtrak with 10 fewer trains than expected. Throughout the day yesterday, passengers were shifted to regular regional trains to make up for the Acela cancelations.

''We are scrambling to maintain the 100-plus departures without the high-horsepower locomotives, and so far so good,'' said Amtrak spokesman Clifford Black.

The passengers may already be taking flight.

Delta Airline spokeswoman Peggy Estes said bookings on the airline's shuttle service linking Boston to New York and Washington have jumped significantly this week, though she said it was difficult to say whether Acela's problems or the US Airways bankruptcy was the reason. A spokesman for US Airways could not be reached for comment.

Prior to the shutdown, the premium line had taken 49 percent of the air-train passenger market between Boston and New York in just two years of service.

Yesterday's developments probably added to Amtrak's daily losses, analysts said yesterday. Amtrak officials said that some of the crews who run trains on routes that were shut down have been sent home with pay until the problems are solved.

James RePass, president of the National Rail Corridors Initiative, a lobbying group, said the equipment crisis is disappointing but probably won't hurt the popularity of the Acela Express.

''The service will be in demand as soon as it's restored,'' Repass said. ''The service is so much better than what used to be that it will recover more or less instantaneously.''

The equipment problems were discovered Monday during a routine inspection of the yaw dampening brackets, massive structures bracing the heavy-duty hydraulic shock absorbers that keep the Acela Express locomotives from swaying.

Amtrak officials believe the brackets on both types of locomotives are failing due to metal fatigue and that they simply are not made of heavy enough material to handle the weight of the locomotives. They fear that if the brackets break apart they could damage or derail the trains.

Amtrak officials had predicted earlier this week that Acela Express service would resume by Monday, and they ran the route with four locomotives in two train sets that passed inspection. Three more train sets were to be activated yesterday.

That plan was scrubbed late Wednesday, however, after inspectors found cracks deep in the chassis of one of the two train sets that ran that day.

Inspectors from Amtrak and Bombardier then intensified their inspections in Boston's Southampton Street yard. The new cracks are located where the 200-pound, stainless-steel brackets are welded to the body of the locomotives.

Bombardier was said to be working overtime milling new, heavy-duty replacement brackets. To install them, crews must strip away portions of the locomotives' metal skin. Amtrak officials said it could add weeks to the repair schedule.

Amtrak spokesman Clifford Black downplayed the repairs, but admitted it was unlikely the trains would return by early next week. ''But there have been miracles,'' he said.

Officials with the Federal Railroad Administration told the Globe this week that a similar problem surfaced during the Acela's safety trials three years ago. Those cracks were attributed to overtightened bolts, and the agency agreed with Amtrak that rigorous inspections would eliminate the safety risk.

Amtrak officials declined to comment on the matter.

Acela Express passenger Kevin Cipollara of New York City, returning from a Maine vacation, took the cancellations in stride yesterday at South Station. Next week, when he would normally use the Acela Express for his work as a technical consultant, he will probably take a plane, Cipollara said.

''When there's a lack of consistency, I take the shuttle,'' he said. ''Regional Amtrak trains are typically 30 to 40 minutes late, which is no advantage, so why pay the extra money?''

On an average weekday, Acela Express carries about 10,000 passengers along the Northeast corridor, the vast majority traveling between New York and Boston. An estimated 50 percent of Amtrak's passengers on that route rides the Acela Express.

Amtrak officials said this week's problems are perhaps the worst blow its service has ever suffered. And it comes at one of the bleakest times in the national passenger rail carrier's turbulent, 31-year history.

Last month, Amtrak announced that all 18 of the high-speed Acela Express train sets needed as many as 200 different repairs and modifications. Amtrak's chief executive, David L. Gunn, also rejected delivery of a 19th train from Bombardier, citing modifications that had not been not made.

In a gambit earlier this year, Gunn threatened to shut down all of Amtrak's rail service, including commuter trains it runs for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, until Congress granted a $205 million bailout. And more than 100 passengers were injured when an Amtrak train from Chicago to Washington derailed in Maryland last month.

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 8/16/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
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