WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amtrak today removed all of its high-speed Acela trains from service after discovering cracks and breaks in a heavy bracket on the wheel sets which could fall under the train and cause a derailment or hit other trains and objects along the right of way, the Washington Post reports.
Amtrak President David L. Gunn said he will meet today with representative of Bombardier of North America, the train’s manufacturer, to begin immediately to design a repair program.
He said, as of this morning, he is uncertain when the Acela can begin operating again and at what speed.
Meanwhile, Amtrak set up hourly service using regular equipment from Washington and New York, with other service to Boston in an effort to keep passengers moving.
“This is a very serious service problem,” Gunn said. “It is not good for our passengers.” Passengers are encouraged to call 1-800-USA-RAIL for updated information.
The defect was discovered on one of the 18 train sets that Amtrak has accepted from Bombardier, during a routine inspection at the Boston maintenance facility Monday afternoon. During the afternoon, as a precaution, Amtrak slowed all Acela trains to 80 miles an hour and today decided to cancel all service pending further inspections.
Amtrak Chief Operating Officer Stan Bagley said, as of this morning, nine of the train sets had been inspected. Two were found to be all right but four exhibited cracking around bolt holes that indicated a failure was imminent and three trains had broken brackets.
The brackets are called yaw dampers and are intended to prevent the train from rocking horizontally at high speeds. The train can run without a yaw damper, but the main worry is that the more than 200 pounds of steel involved would crack off, fall and cause a derailment.
“There’s a lot of steel there,” Gunn said. “It would not be good. It could cause a derailment, but it could also hit something else.”