(The following article by Matthew Wald was posted on the New York Times website on April 16.)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak predicted on Saturday that it would have more travelers than seats between Washington and Boston for the coming week because its Acela Express trains were sidelined on Friday after cracks were discovered in the brakes.
But the railroad was redeploying equipment to try to meet demand, and was also anticipating that customers would plan ahead as they could not on Friday, when they showed up for express trains that they did not know had been canceled, and had to squeeze onto local trains.
“Next week, we won’t have Acela refugees,” said R. Clifford Black, an Amtrak spokesman.
In an indication that passengers were planning ahead, Amtrak’s Web site on Saturday showed an unusually large number of trains sold out.
Railroad officials still did not know on Saturday how long it would take to fix the brakes, which have developed cracks in the spokes that hold disc rotors in place. Of more than 1,400 brakes in the fleet of 120 cars, about 300 have cracks.
Very few Acela trains run on Saturdays, so the impact of the loss of all 20 Acela trains was not large. Sundays are busier, and Mr. Black said that of the 10 round-trip trains that day, Amtrak would make up for three with other trains.
It was not clear how many Acela trains Amtrak would be able to replace with other ones on Monday, or how much capacity could be added by putting extra cars on other trains. Mr. Black said that Acela trains made up about 20 percent of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor ridership, and that the railroad would make up “two or three percentage points” by other trains. Some passengers may be forced to travel at less convenient hours, and some will find other transportation, he predicted.
Friday was a difficult day for Amtrak riders. Carol Feder, of Washington, said she had been one of the first people to board the 8:10 a.m. southbound local train from Pennsylvania Station, and thus got a seat, but that many passengers from the canceled 8 a.m. Acela also quickly boarded.
Normally that train gets close to full once it has stopped at Newark, Newark Airport, Metro Park and Trenton, N.J., Ms. Feder said, but on Friday people were crowded into the aisles before it left Penn Station. By the time it reached Newark Airport, people had trouble squeezing on board with their suitcases, she said.
Ms. Feder said she went to New York weekly and was planning to reserve her seat early. “We need this,” she said. “One can’t count on just air transportation between here and New York.”
Amtrak had planned to issue a new schedule on April 25, and it would have been the first in three decades without a Metroliner because its premium-class customers are increasingly taking the Acela Express. With the Acela trains out of service, however, the railroad is borrowing old Metroliner cars from its Adirondack service.