WASHINGTON — Amtrak slashed its Acela Express high-speed train service in the Northeast again yesterday after discovering new cracks in four of the locomotives that were returned to service this week, forcing thousands of passengers to scramble for another ride, reports the Washington Post.
On a day when Amtrak had hoped to restore most Acela service along the heavily traveled Washington-to-Boston corridor, the trains made 15 departures, down sharply from the 50 usually scheduled on a weekday. Amtrak said the Acela trains will make about 10 departures today, with four trains in service.
Amtrak had sidelined all 18 Acela trains twice last week after discovering cracked shock-absorber brackets in some of the locomotives. The high-speed trains typically serve about 10,000 people a day. Amtrak also pulled 15 nearly new high-horsepower conventional electric locomotives out of service last week after finding similar cracks in one.
Amtrak officials declined to say when they expect to restore full Acela service.
The new problems are the latest setback for Amtrak, which earlier this summer threatened to shut down entirely because it was running out of money; Congress responded by approving enough additional funding to keep the trains moving through September. Amtrak has also been suffering from an equipment shortage, storing wrecked cars rather than repairing them because of a lack of cash and personnel.
The Acela trains are each scheduled for about 200 upgrades to fix a variety of equipment problems, including flawed braking systems and sticking restroom doors.
Engineers inspecting the Acela fleet after its run yesterday morning detected hairline cracks in the main body of the four locomotives, and Amtrak quickly yanked those trains from service.
All the damaged locomotives were part of the same order to manufacturers Bombardier Transportation of North America and Alstom of Paris.
A Bombardier spokeswoman said the latest cracks are closely linked to the damaged brackets. “This is a different aspect of the same problem,” said Lecia Stewart, the company’s vice president for high-speed rail in North America.
The new cracks were found in the side sill, an 80-foot-long stainless-steel structure that runs the length of the locomotive. In each case, the cracks were located inches from the brackets, which attach large shock absorbers called yaw dampers to the locomotive frame to prevent the train from rocking.
“Like those on the brackets, these [cracks] appear to be stress-related, but these are mostly invisible to the naked eye,” Amtrak President David L. Gunn wrote in a memo to employees. Clifford Black, a spokesman for Amtrak, said it appears that the cracks “have been there for some time.”
Bombardier and Amtrak have mobilized more than 100 engineers and mechanics to repair the cracked brackets and side sills. Because the cracks are small, most can be temporarily buffed out through welding and grinding.
“The permanent fix will be the redesigned yaw-damper bracket, and that will take a few weeks,” Stewart said. Bombardier said it will not develop a new bracket until the end of this month.
After discovering the cracks in the brackets last week, Amtrak ordered that all Acela trains be visually inspected after every run. Engineers use dyes that illuminate small fissures to search for cracks, Black said.
Amtrak decided to pull the Acela trains out of service as a precaution and said it is confident that customers will return to the railroad despite two turbulent weeks.
“We are running trains that have been so carefully observed that there is no reason to worry,” Black said. “In an abundance of caution we took them out of service.”
Despite the recent problems, the Acela service remains extremely popular on the East Coast, stealing thousands of passengers from airlines since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as travelers have sought to avoid the long lines and hassles that have come with stricter airport security. The Acelas carried 230,786 passengers in July, up 11 percent from 207,223 in July 2001.
Across the Northeast yesterday, Acela passengers did what has become something of a routine over the past week: eyeing the word “canceled” on the arrivals-and-departures boards, swarming around the ticket counter and then racing to the next available train.
Laura Hubber, 37, a radio journalist from Los Angeles, said, “I’m used to the train being dismal.” Hubber, who left New York on a 5 p.m. Acela regional train to Washington, said she would have taken the Acela Express but the billboard at Penn Station read “canceled.”
“I told my friend the train was supposed to be in D.C. at 8:30 but don’t be there until 9 p.m. because it’s always late,” Hubber said.
Amtrak said it will provide credits to Acela ticketholders who take a less expensive train for the difference between the fares, a spokeswoman said. Acela tickets can run as high as $150 one way for the equivalent of business class.
Edward E. Furash, 68, chairman of the Treasury Bank in Alexandria, said, “The Acela is so good, there’s no reason to ever take a plane on this corridor, but it’s all going to pieces now.”