Equipment issues have led to the cancellation of one Acela round trip between Boston and Washington today (Feb. 26), after two round trips were cancelled on Tuesday.
Also, two Michigan Service trains have been cancelled today.
On the Northeast Corridor, Acela train No. 2153, a 6 a.m. departure from Boston, has been cancelled, as well as train No. 2170, a 3 p.m. departure from Washington. This follows Tuesday’s cancellations of Washington-Boston trains Nos. 2154 (a 7 a.m. departure) and 2172 (a 4 p.m. departure), as well as Boston-Washington trains Nos. 2155 (a 7:15 am. Departure) and 2173 (a 4:15 p.m. departure). Trains 2155 and 2172 were also cancelled on Monday.
Amtrak lists “equipment unavailability” as the cause of all cancellations. With the continuing delays in launching service with the next generation of Acelas, use of the current trainsets has been extended beyond their intended lifespan. More than a year ago, four of the 20 trains were reported to have been parked and were being cannibalized for parts, since parts are no longer being manufactured [see “News report says new Acela delays …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 9, 2023]. The new Acelas — ordered in 2016 and originally projected to be in operation in 2021 — are currently expected to enter service this spring [see “Amtrak public board meeting …,” News Wire, Dec. 4, 2024].
Meanwhile, in the Midwest, Wolverine No. 351 — the 5:43 a.m. departure from Pontiac, Mich., for Chicago — and train No. 365, the Port Huron-Chicago Blue Water, have been cancelled because of “equipment unavailability issues,” according to Amtrak Alerts. Bus service will be provided. The Chicago-Port Huron Blue Water was cancelled on Tuesday, while No. 351 was cancelled for the fourth time since Feb. 19.
So the street car is having mechanical problems? Is it a lack of spare parts? Some hard questions need to be asked of officials.
Thie spare parts also is affecting the Acella-1s, A close examination of all rail procurement contracts needs to be initiated. Rail car and locos need access to all drawings and construction equipment if in the future the original builder stops making the parts. With rail cars having lifetimes of 60 + years the planned obsolesce of builders needs to be mitigated someway with proper contract provisions.
Do you have the impression that this country is in a mess? (Yes, blame Donald Trump if you will; he’s been in office 37 days.) In Milwaukee, the inane streetcar known as The Hop is out of service. It’s at least a long-term closure, if not permanent.
Here’s the thing, though: the city and the trolley management won’t even say that the trolley is cancelled! The web site doesn’t have a service alert of any sort. The local newspaper, for the benefit of all three of its remaining readers, has covered the news that The Hop has mechanical issues but hasn’t said that it’s shut down. So that leaves the trolley’s handful of riders (patronage is down by almost half since the service started) to wonder why the streetcar never comes. If they take the Milwaukee County bus, they’d have to pay — The Hop, when it runs, is free, because no one would pay to ride it.
No one is more pro-rail or pro-transit than I am. Which is why I’m foaming – at – the – mouth screaming mad at the the predictable flopperoos, which are CalHSR and Milwaukee’s The Hop.
This is how Milwaukee’s liberals and Democats think. Boston’s MBTA is crush-loaded. In Seattle, light rail is so highly patronaged that you’re lucky to get a seat. Denver’s streetcars run nose – to – tail. New York is defined by its subways. Transit is successful all over the world. So let’s also have a trolley — even though any Republican in the Milwaukee area would have told them (correctly) it would be a total failure.