BOSTON — With more than half its high-tech, high-speed locomotives sidetracked by a nagging problem in the shock absorber system, Amtrak officials said yesterday they will keep five Acela Express trains in service today and Friday, reducing its service to just 30 percent along the popular Northeast Corridor as the busy Labor Day weekend approaches, the Boston Globe reports.
Meanwhile, three of four high-horsepower locomotives by the same manufacturer that underwent repairs for similar problems failed a Federal Railroad Administration inspection yesterday and were abruptly removed from service.
Amtrak spokesman Clifford Black said inspectors found that bolts on the repaired suspension brackets on those locomotives had not been tightened properly. Amtrak had to pull the third locomotive when inspectors determined it needed brake repairs, but the fourth locomotive was cleared to pull Amtrak’s Clocker Regional train between Philadelphia and New York, Black said.
The locomotives were among a total of 15 high-horsepower engines pulled from service last week after cracks were detected on the same type of suspension brackets that were failing on nearly all of the Acela Express high-speed trains. The high-horsepower locomotives are used for slower Acela Regional service and other local lines.
For the last two weeks, Amtrak has struggled to keep the Acela Express line functioning, despite repeatedly finding cracks in the yaw dampening brackets, a shock absorber system that keeps the locomotives from swaying. Since Aug. 5, the embarassing problem has repeatedly shut down the Acela Express, Amtrak’s premium service and its only profitable line, forcing the beleaguered rail system to deal with the worst service interruption in its turbulent 31-year history.
Amtrak sidetracked all 18 Acela Express trains last week after finding cracked brackets on at least 11 of the 18 locomotive sets. After some quick repairs, Amtrak planned to put five Acela Express trains back on the tracks last Thursday, but shut down the line again when engineers found the problem was more widespread.
That same week, Amtrak pulled the 15 new high-horsepower locomotives from service after discovering similar cracks. Those engines remained out of service this week after Amtrak substituted them with locomotives borrowed from transit agencies in New Jersey and Maryland.
”They’re out for the foreseeable future,” said Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Van Veen.
On Tuesday, just after returning nine sidelined Acela Express locomotives to service, inspectors found previously undetected hairline cracks within the metal bodies of four Acela Express locomotives.
The Acela Express service, which typically carries about 10,000 riders daily, plans to continue to use five Acela Express locomotives this week, according to Black. Keeping the line running will help crews catch up on round-the-clock repairs to damaged engines while allowing more time for shipment of replacement equipment by the locomotives’ manufacturers, Canada-based Bombardier and Alstom S.A. of France, said an Amtrak spokesman.
Still, some industry analysts estimate that the lingering headache is causing Amtrak, already strapped financially, to bleed even more red ink, perhaps as much as $1 million each day Acela Express is out of service. At the same time, passengers who used the Acela Express instead of airline shuttles to travel from Boston to New York and Washington, D.C., are switching back to the airlines.
On a typical weekday, Amtrak usually makes nine round-trip Acela Express runs between Boston and New York, and a total of 50 departures along the Boston-Washington corridor. Only 17 trains departed along those routes yesterday.