WASHINGTON --
Amtrak said its popular Acela Express trains would be sidelined
until the summer at the earliest, as it works to repair problems
with the high-speed trains brakes.
In the meantime,
Amtrak bolstered scheduled service on the busy Northeast Corridor,
adding trains between the nations Capitol and Boston.
Amtrak said that
starting April 25, it would resume hourly departures to New York
between Washington on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. using
Metroliner trains -- which were previously used on the route before they
were replaced by the Acela Express service -- for the 15
roundtrips.
Then, starting May
2, Amtrak said it would operate Metroliner trains for 13 hourly
departures between New York and Washington and four between New
York and Boston. Both routes would also be supplemented by 20 Acela
Regional trains, which make extra stops.
Amtrak officials,
speaking at a press conference here, said the new Metroliner and
Acela Regional schedules essentially replace the schedules operated
by the faster Acela Express trains.
Amtrak suspended
operation of all 20 Acela Express trains on April 15 after 300
cracks, or stress fractures, were found during routine maintenance
inspections on the 1,440 brake discs or rotors used on the
trains.
We do not know yet
the precise cause of the cracks, said Bill Crosbie, Amtraks vice
president of Operations.
Replacing them,
however, wont be easy, he conceded.
Right now, Crosbie
said, there are fewer than 70 spare discs available. Each trainset
requires 72. This part is unique to the Acela. There is no active
production line. The [train] manufacturer has told me that this
will take some time.
Consequently,
Crosbie said, he could not predict when the full fleet of Acela
Express trains would return to service. At best, Crosbie said he
expects the Acela Express trains to gradually return to service
this summer, assuming the cause of the cracks can be determined and
there are no further delays in replacing the brake
discs.
Amtrak officials
said that at this stage is it unclear how much revenue is being
lost because the Acela Express trains are out of
service.
The last time
Amtrak suspended the popular, albeit problematic, Acela Express
service was in August 2002, when routine inspections uncovered
hairline cracks on the yaw damper brackets, used to secure shock
absorber-like devices, on several Acela Express
locomotives.
Service was
suspended for three months at an estimated cost of about $1 million
a day.
The difficulties
with the Acela Express train come at a time when lawmakers in
Congress are in the process of determining Amtraks budget for
2006.
Amtrak said it
needs at least $1.8 billion to operate the national rail system and
keep it in good repair. The Bush administration, critical of
Amtraks billions of dollars of losses over the years, has
recommended eliminating all funding for the rail line to force it
into bankruptcy.
When asked how the
Acela Express situation would impact Amtrak on Capitol Hill, Amtrak
President David Gunn said, At this point
we are primarily focused on our passengers and to restore service
so that they say with us. Thats the more important thing we are
going to focus on.
To contact
reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].