BOSTON — A federal railroad safety official confirmed yesterday that early safety trials of Amtrak’s Acela Express trains revealed that the sophisticated shock absorbers that stabilize the locomotives were susceptible to cracks, the Boston Globe reports.
Amtrak officials decided to put the trains in service two years ago, however, when Federal Railroad Administration officials agreed that rigorous inspections would keep the problem from becoming a safety hazard.
But when different, more severe cracks surfaced this week in 11 of 16 high-speed locomotives they have inspected, Amtrak indefinitely idled nearly all of its Acela Express trains and sharply cut service, a move that may cost the beleaguered rail line an estimated $1 million a day.
“We knew that there were certain types of cracks” three years ago, said Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Rail Administration.
After a thorough investigation, he said, officials decided that “so long as the enhanced inspections were being made and so long as the proper maintenance procedure was performed, the cracks were not a safety concern.
“But what [Amtrak inspectors] found this week, they had never seen before,” he added. “These are two different types of cracks.”
Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by the Canadian-French consortium that built the trains blames Amtrak for more than $200 million in cost overruns, due to thousands of design and manufacturing changes Amtrak ordered for the locomotives and cars.
In one instance, the lawsuit alleges, Amtrak wanted equipment that was 1,800 pounds heavier than the rail system’s own weight limits “and much too heavy for high speed operation.”
“The Amtrak-prepared specifications in many instances were just wrong or did not make sense,” said Philip Douglas, a lawyer representing Bombardier-Alstom, the manufacturer. Douglas said Bombardier ultimately delivered trains believed to be soundly designed and manufactured.
As inspections on the trains continued yesterday, specialists from Amtrak, the Federal Rail Administration, and Bombardier-Alstom searched for solutions to the problem. In Washington, engineers from Bombardier-Alstom tested a heavier bracket shipped from Canada.
By midday yesterday, specialists had found cracks in 11 of the 16 Acela Express trains they had inspected so far, with damage ranging from small cracks to substantial fractures in the massive, 200-pound steel brackets.
To keep the system running, two Acela Express trains worked the rails between Boston and Washington yesterday. The two trains had passed inspection, but would be thoroughly inspected again after their runs yesterday.
The shock absorber problem was discovered late Monday when inspectors found a crack in one locomotive’s yaw damper brackets, one of four heavy-duty shock absorbers that keep the engine from swaying in turns. More cracks were found late Monday; by Tuesday afternoon, nine locomotives were found to have the problem, and Amtrak’s chief executive, David L. Gunn, shut down the line as a precaution, stranding thousands of commuters.
Before the shutdown, the Acela Express had become Amtrak’s most profitable line, transporting more people between Washington and New York than Delta and US Airways shuttles combined. Since Sept. 11, its premium Boston-to-New York route grabbed a 49 percent share of the entire air-train passenger market between the two cities.
This week’s shutdown was the latest headache for the cash-strapped national rail carrier.
Last month, Amtrak announced that all 18 of Acela’s train sets needed up to 200 different repairs and modifications. Gunn also told Bombardier-Alstom that he wouldn’t accept delivery of two new trains, citing modifications that were not made.
In the spring, Gunn threatened to shut down Amtrak’s entire system nationwide — including the commuter trains it runs for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority — unless Congress granted it a $205 million bailout loan. Amtrak got the money.
And an Amtrak train traveling from Chicago to Washington derailed in Maryland last month, injuring more than 100 people. Investigators blamed the crash on a misalignment of the tracks caused by excessive heat.
To stem its losses, Amtrak was expected to activate three reserve Acela Express locomotives on the New York-to-Washington line. Amtrak officials said late yesterday that the inspection process for the entire Acela fleet is almost finished.
Still, engineers haven’t pinpointed the reason why the brackets on the high-tech shock absorbers are cracking.
Amtrak spokesman Bill Schulz said the cause could be “simple metal fatigue.” But other rail specialists say they believe the Acela Express locomotives simply weren’t designed to run on rail lines shared with freight trains and older, slower locomotives.
Though Amtrak officials have said that the Acela Express line could be up and running as soon as next week, Flatau, of the Federal Rail Administration, said it’s unclear how soon safety tests by Amtrak and the federal agency will clear the locomotives for use.
“We have to exercise independent judgment,” he said. “We’re not going to do anything to hold it up or force it through, but the bottom line here is that we want to be convinced that [Amtrak’s solution] is going to do the job.”
Bombardier officials have said that a temporary or permanent fix could take weeks.
Amtrak’s rail yard off Frontage Road in Boston was housing six Acela Express trains yesterday. Amtrak officials did not allow reporters access.
While some dismayed Acela Express passengers decided to drive or fly rather than ride the rails yesterday, Fred Prahl of Methuen said that despite his regional train to Philadelphia being packed, it arrived only a few minutes late.
“Knowing that they had to cancel the high speed train service, [that] was better than I had expected,” said Prahl, who studies high-speed trains for the National Research Council of Canada. “Under the circumstances, it was just fine.”
At South Station, Amtrak operations appeared to be running smoothly, with Acela passengers receiving ticket refunds and boarding on-time regional trains to their southern destinations. Trains were reported packed in Philadelphia late yesterday, with standing room only in some cars.
Leopoldo Bracale, a tourist who owns a hotel in Miraflores, Peru, said he has traveled around the world and never expected inconveniences like those he has found with Amtrak.
“It is really a shame; we didn’t think things like this happened in the States,” Bracale said.