Amtrak's New Acela - Rare Mileage Testing on the Keystone Corridor!

[@rrcrossing5690]

The power units have a different cross-sectional shape than the cars and it mildly infuriates me...

[@erniepike3902]

IKR, why.

[@carisi2k11]

I agree. My issue is why do you need an electric loco at each end and why not just go for an electric multiple unit setup instead?

[@dobbinism]

I would guess that the power cars do not have active tilt technology whereas the passenger cars do. This may be because the overhead catenary on the corridor route is mounted quite high, so that a tilting power car would cause the pantograph to lose contact with the power wire. Try to imagine the train on a fast curve... the passenger cars would tilt and fall into line with the profile of the power cars.

[@dave6695]

I have the same gripe. The difference in cross section shape looks just odd.

[@amtrakisveryepic]

It sounds awesome when it rolls by, it looks really pretty paint wise and from the front and back but still, it infuriates me as well.

[@kyotokid4]

...if this nation really want to commit to HSR in various corridors, It needs dedicated rights of way free from slower heavier freights. .

[@codyandrew2029]

kyotokid4 the cost of that would be astronomical

[@kyotokid4]

@@codyandrew2029 ...so were the costs at the time for the interstate highway system, but we built it anyway. About time we invest in an "interstate railway system". I'm not talking system wide, but specific corridors that would benefit from the higher speeds and generate the passenger traffic to support such operations. These distances are where rail has an advantage over air as it is city centre to city centre and trips could be completed in 3 - 4 hours or less. You cannot have lightweight 160 - 180 mph passenger trains sharing the same tracks with heavy 50 mph freights (that put far more wear on the rails and roadbeds) and slower commuter rail. This nation needs to finally step into the current century when it comes to transportation.

[@Michaelpai1230]

Dedicated tracks exactly. As it is, buying these new trains are an half assed effort and spec sheet eye candy. Obviously target the shorter “tri-City” routes first.

[@lawnmowerdude]

I’m sure the sharp curves aren’t helping either.

[@walkoja]

@TouchyBanana they are god awful aren't they. Until they try to build something in your back yard and you become one of them.

[@hunterneitzel3012]

It's a very interesting design. Kinda looks like a high speed train you'd see In Europe.

[@TheRailwayDrone]

Alstom is a French company so, there ya go.

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

It was built here but Alstom designs mostly European trainsets so naturally they have a bit of a Euro look to them. Same can be said about the Siemens chargers. American crash standards do have some influence on the look, though I don't know the details on that.

[@CentralJerseyRailfan]

Central Penn Rail Productions SNCF’s Avelia Horizon is projected to use the same power car design, chances are that technology has evolved so that the euro styling is intact. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avelia_Horizon

[@Firestorm2814Sector]

Ploke Newo78 no. That’s not how it works lol the design is the same as the Alston trains in France. European company = European designed train

[@maximagmhondafan8892]

Ploke Newo78 it’s designed in Europe, built in America.

[@trainzguy2472]

One thing about this train that's always baffled me is the difference in side profiles between the locomotives and passenger cars. But, if it doesn't make a difference in aerodynamics at 200 mph, then I guess it's tolerable. Edit: those flat cars at 6:22 are really old and probably shouldn't be in service. Flat cars are built with a slight upward arch to them to help support loads (like an arch bridge). These two, especially the second one, are clearly bent the other way.

[@ModernClassic]

I'd be surprised if it doesn't make some difference to the aerodynamics and I don't understand how they accept that. In Japan, for example, JR, Kawasaki, Hitachi, etc. have all worked together over the years to even eliminate extra drag from the *windows* on the shinkansen (and windows are flush!), so I just cannot imagine there's no extra drag caused by that corner of the first passenger car on each end being a flat surface against the wind. And I don't see why they couldn't have just made the locomotives the same shape to fix it.

[@operastudio1238]

I had the same exact thought. It looks like the locos are from a different train... especially if compared to other trains made by Alstom. Surely will cause some very minimal drag, but that won’t affect performance at all, nothing more than a handrail or a pantograph.

[@MIKES0029]

Agreed. My ocd is really having a hard time with it...

[@treinspotterhoofddorp9841]

I don’t think it makes a big difference... The powercars of the TGV Duplex also don’t perfectly allign with the coaches

[@thees79]

"High Speed Train". Laughable. USA can not build anything. The design is pretty old too. But I guess you can sell a country with the infrastructure of the USA anything as modern and new.

[@BurlingtonNorthernProductions]

THIS CHANNEL IS MY CHILDHOOD I STARTED WATCHING WHEN I WAS 2, NEVER STOPPED

[@Honeydwarf85]

Wish they'd use the old Acella sets on the Keystone Corridor

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

There's a lot of rumors going around about that...but rumors in the railfan community are about as plentiful as stars in the sky, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

[@AirchimeLTDproductions174]

@@CentralPennRailProductions I guess if Amtrak is going to use the Acelas on the Keystone Corridor, they might want to make a different logo for them, and name them the Keystone Express. :P I wonder if the horns are going to be changed on the new Avelia Liberties? Knowing amtrak probably not, it would be nice to hear K5LA's on them instead of the 2 chime horns.

[@NikonF5user]

@@AirchimeLTDproductions174 I so LOVE the new horn... don't change it!!!

[@thetrainmiser8642]

The old Acela sets will be given back to the bank in 2021, this Amtrak will not own them.

[@PCLoadLetter]

The bank would not want to hold onto them. If someone (even Amtrak) offers more $$ than scrap value, they’ll probably be the new owners.

[@TheRailwayDrone]

I REALLY hate the design of the power cars. I can't understand why they don't match the shape of the coaches. There's no "continuity" of shape between the power cars and the coaches, which makes it look poorly designed, which is odd, coming from a European train company that also designed the TGV.

[@alexverdigris9939]

it's to do with the tilting system. Locomotive doesn't need to tilt, but carriages do, hence the difference in design.

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

Alex, I didn't know that. That's good information, a lot of us have been wondering why it ended up like that.

[@alexverdigris9939]

@@CentralPennRailProductions To elaborate a bit more: since the NEC line is a "classic" railway from the days before HSR, it was plotted with some tight curves that now slow down fast trains. The Avelia Liberty has been specified with tilting carriages, in order to go a bit faster on these bends, by leaning slightly into each bend to keep the ride comfortable for passengers so they don't spill their drinks during a tight curve taken at extra speed (the power car doesn't care about this enhanced comfort, so itself doesn't contain the tilting mechanism which means it has a slightly slimmer profile). So, if the NEC had curves of larger radius, there would have never been any need for a tilting system, and the coaches would have had the same profile as the power cars; but as it is, they're a bit more "bulky" under floor.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

@@alexverdigris9939 The tilting system does determine the profile of the coaches like you said, but it would also be possible for the locomotives to share this same profile. The loading gauge for tilting trains is always smaller than non-tilting trains, since it needs to accommodate a greater range of positions, including the normal non-tilted position. So it is always possible to use a tilting train profile on a non-tilting train (i.e. the locomotive), even if the opposite is not true.

[@davideddy5877]

@@alexverdigris9939 That does not happen on the UK Pendolino tilting trains.

[@jeffwallace957]

That was a really cool shot as it traveled over the Stone Bridge.

[@Boxscot49]

Top notch

[@PennsyPro]

Wonderful coverage of this once-in-a-lifetime move!

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

Thank you!

[@FanRailer]

Nice, this is the first video to catch that PWM frequency change while accelerating @ 1:35 after presumably getting upgraded to a medium aspect. Basically the same traction system as the new TGVs over in France.

[@thetrainmiser8642]

Yeah it sounds really similar to the TGVs when you listen to it out of context actually!

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

Happy new week! 🧡

[@DelayInBlockProductions]

Another fantastic video, my friend! Keep up the great work. It’s quite unfortunate that the new Acela set is so hideous and has such a regrettable horn. Loved seeing the caboose. That was nice! -Drayton

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

HA! Well I was really on the fence for a long time about whether or not I liked it, obviously that mismatch between the power car and the coaches is odd but I'm sure it came down to cost savings which is the biggest design killer of them all, but overall I think it's a good new look. Thanks for checking out the vid and hope you are doing well!

[@BasenjiAdventures]

My brother used to fix locomotives and he once allowed me to drive one a short distance in the yard. An amazing, and quite likely once in a lifetime opportunity!

[@Roboboy]

I like your narration and appreciate the pacing and information you share in the video!

[@Roboboy]

Also, kudos to your really well-done closed captioning!!

[@HeadPack]

Good to see higher speed rail coming to the US. If only the rail infrastructure would find more attention.

[@kidgamer8758]

HeadPack yea like take a high speed train from DC to Miami in a day

[@TheDoof0412]

And the U.S relies more on planes

[@NortheastCorridorFilms]

We’ve had it since 2000

[@IronhorseRailProductions]

I caught this train moving down the NS sunbury line about 3 months ago being transported by 3 Amtrak P42DC's. T'was one of the coolest catches I ever got.

[@traingirl09]

I saw a video on that. Agreed, it was awesome!

[@josephetienne-guzzi4258]

I always wondered what the future for Amtrak Acela would be like. Turns out that the Amtrak Acela Avelia Liberty is a great example of that. Can't wait to see when they go into service along with the current Acela Express trains.

[@geraldgreen5371]

In case I miss it... just make sure that when they start testing on the corridor in the HIGH SPEED ZONE AROUND TRENTON ...PLEASE GET DECENT FOOTAGE...IN CASE I MISS THE ACTUAL RUN OF THE SET.......

[@PositionLight]

Due to the current Rule 251 nature of Track 1 and 4 between PAOLI and THORN, the reverse direction signal at DOWNS can only display Stop and Restricting. The train gets a Form D to move against the current of traffic and has to approach all interlockings prepared to stop. Access to the Dale secondary at GLEN is only available from tracks 1 and 2.

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

Thanks, I appreciate the level of knowledge you have on this territory which is like no other. I haven't spent enough time down here to know what's going on so I try to summarize the best I can. I plan to make a lot more visits east of THORN as that's about as far I've covered for Keystone videos, your blog has been VERY helpful and thanks for allowing me to include the pic.

[@PositionLight]

@@CentralPennRailProductions Watch my channel for the eventual posting of videos of the THORN CTC machine as trains pass through it's territory.

[@ablam8]

Could have saved 1 trillion in Afganistan and had HSR all across US.

[@blackhole9961]

High speed rail across the whole US is very impractical and makes little sense, it barely works in 1 part of the country so far.

[@huntere2205]

You plan on uploading soon? It's been 5 months!

[@scubajoe3321]

4:07 looks like something you'd find in Europe

[@geraldgreen5371]

I don't see any numbers / this is obviously the first ACELA 2 SET...WHERE ARE THE ROAD NUMBERS TO THE CONSIST????

[@distantsignal]

Great production! I'd love to get up there and shoot some of that new NEC stuff. Thanks! Danny Harmon

[@Kerry70]

Loved that shot of the new Acela traveling over the old arch bridge!

[@atlanticbarbara387]

As a (french) passionate of trains and knowing quite well our high speed trains. Since many years I have the same questionning about alstom's habit to not match the shape of the loc and the one from the coaches. 🤣🤣🤣

[@MrVincemal]

TGV Réseau Duplex are horrible for that for instance.

[@peterkoster9390]

Congrats on 100k subs! Plus I love that new train!

[@Buc_Stops_Here]

I wonder if this extensive testing at slow speeds is just to test the wear and tear on the powertrain. Amtrak has received engines/train sets in the past that don't hold up and they prematurely have to get rid of them. The 20 year old Acela has not had problems but other train engines for the northeast corridor bought at the same time were retired after only 10 years of use due to premature wear occurring frequently. Maybe to prevent this from happening again they are doing even more extensive testing even if it means slow going?

[@theicechannel]

As here in germany, modern trains with 2 powercars just need to lift one pantograph. The power will be transferred by a high voltage cable to the other powercar. So in the normal case, always the last pantograph will be up.

[@lordwiggin449]

Awesome shots! I was at that exact same spot when I caught a video of Amtrak’s Keystone Service

[@robertdamico1]

Can't wait to travel to New York on the new Acela! Happy to learn the new trains are made in America!

[@ValleySubRailfan4643]

The paint is AMAZING. The design is really good too. Wonder if it will be able to go 200mph.

[@alexander1485]

the first thing you said is true, the second thing you said is 50 percent true

[@ValleySubRailfan4643]

@@alexander1485 kinda

[@acoustic61]

I remember train watching in Lancaster during the 70's when my parents took us to Amish Country on vacation! I was amused by electrified rails which didn't yet exist in Boston area.

[@dimitrilensflareabrams2893]

Great vid! Really detailed! Also imo the Avelia Liberty should be silver and renamed to zephyr or something like that but thats just my 2 cents.

[@irelandbloke]

Great video 👍🏻

[@patrickmcneilly4293]

I wonder if Amtrak would get the CutOff done faster than NJT if there was the thought of it being used on the line.

[@AliceInChains243]

I know I've been away from the railfan YT game for quite a while now, but damn, how long have you been doing V/O? I've gotta say, you're a natural voice talent for this sort of thing, it's definitely a solid addition. Hopefully you'll be making it a mainstay. As to the new blood on the rails? It's warming on me, slowly. I'm sure I'll concede my opinion once I see it roll by with my own eyes, whenever the hell that'll be. At any rate, nice that you were able to get out to document the moves. I've been so out of touch lately that I didn't even know that it took a run at the Keystone. Normally I would say who knows when such an opportunity will present itself again, but it's 2020, apparently anything is possible heh... (the new optics look sweet, btw)

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

Thanks Mike! I think this is video 5 for voice over. I plan to stick with it though it's time consuming for me on the back end since it takes awhile for me to fine-tune scripts. But practice makes perfect, it's definitely a learned skill that takes time and I am making do with the equipment I have. Anyway, cool to see the 11 year subscription badge next to your name, I can't believe it's been this long already!

[@railfanforever]

The paint scheme of the coaches reminds me of early 20th century Baltimore & Ohio rebuilt heavyweights. That's heritage -- why not? The angle of the locomotive side and the coach side doesn't match, which seems odd for fixed sets -- does it make a difference to the aero-dynamics? Probably not.

[@railfantrainsofsandiegopro2101]

Wonder when the new Arrow will begin running trains

[@DanielBerroteran]

The initiative of the state and private authorities is excellent when investing and modernizing once and for all the railway passenger service throughout the national territory, a good option for medium and short distances.

[@am74343]

Just a question... Why would the train's speed be *LESS* with active-tilt disabled? It seems to me like you'd need it to be actively tilting when moving faster. Also, they should install the other two tracks again and upgrade passenger service throughout the northeastern United States. It was very short-sighted of the railroad companies to tear out the other two tracks, when nowadays it would be so much more efficient for regional travel to have them still in service.

[@Narakusin84]

I knew it, I routed this train through Thorn Tower's territory. Also, in a sweet display of irony NSH84 now has the 6993 in the lead. It's not common to have motors with such similar numbers for this train, like it has right now. I feel like we are getting close to the point where this is going to change. All good things, my friends.

[@dopamining7621]

160 mph without dedicated rails is madness.

[@taoliu3949]

You don't need dedicated rails. Mixed operation is normal in most of Europe. Only Japan is completely dedicated due to guage differences.

[@louisturner5141]

It's about time we caught up with Euro! Clearly a unique and beautiful design.

[@EdWhizAviationTrains]

Excellent footage & I love the new look - I Liked & Subscribed 😎👍

[@Akhiii_]

Like you stated, I am starting to grow on this design, sure its not the striking livery from the trailer, but its still a pleasing modern look. The thing I probably WONT tolerate ever is the lack of continuity between the power units and the cars. The front of the power units start to contour to the shape of the cars but then suddenly flats to our annoyance.

[@Boxscot49]

I dont know much about anything with trains but wont every car being connected as one present some issues when it comes to maintenance and repairs?

[@DMTrainspotting]

I do quite like the look of the new Acela, it looks sleek and modern. I also like the livery as the colours just mix nicely with the design

[@ScottRothsroth0616]

I read besides the Northeast Corridor the Keystone Service is the only-other electrified Amtrak line.

[@brucethorne5543]

Love the new Amtrak speedster. Cannot wait to have a chance to ride the service.

[@ReptilianLepton]

I wonder which is more unlikely to see in my lifetime... regular PhillyHarrisburgPittsburgh Acela service? Or restoration of regular passenger/commuter rail service to North Central and Northeast PA? 🤔

[@justinjrailfanproductions1164]

The Avelia Liberty sounds kinda isolated than the old Acela train sets, but I do like both the old and new Acelas.

[@daniellilly7591]

I like the design...what's not to like about it? What's the significance of the single carriage with a red door vs. grey on the others? 1st Class?

[@Roboboy]

Yeah, that's a reasonable guess, since there's currently only one car for first class seating on current Acela sets.

[@mason7024]

Alstom developed a side panel for the avelia to match the cars. It’s on Alstom’s KZbin page.

[@MrMatavelhas]

Alsthom High speed trains normally only have the tail pantograph up, with a high voltage line being provided along the train to feed the head locomotive

[@verindur]

Why electrification of tracks is delayed so much in the US.

[@benjibatch]

It will only run with pan up because it has a 25kv/12kv bus line running the length of the train, and running with one pan up reduces wear and means that an alternative pan is available in case of emergency. Using the rear pan in the direction of travel is also more aerodynamic

[@rvnmedic1968]

Interesting stuff. My stupid question is this: does the pan actually make physical contact with the overhead or is it induction? I kept pausing the vid to see the contact but couldn't tell. Also looked to see if the overhead moved or jiggled with the pan touching it. Would seem the overhead wires would suffer wear from all the pans.

[@benjibatch]

rvnmedic1968 the pans are lifted and kept on the wires by air provided by the main reservoir (the tank that supplies air for the brakes), the part of the pan that touches the wires is made of carbon that is soft enough not to damage the wires. The carbon strips are designed to wear away and be replaced periodically. And hey you don’t know what you don’t know, not a stupid question at all. 😃

[@rvnmedic1968]

@@benjibatch Thanks for the explanation and taking the time to do it. Cheers, Bob

[@benjibatch]

rvnmedic1968 My pleasure Bob! Pans are actually quite fascinating. I was in the back cab of a train I was travelling on and I had a look at the ‘pan cam’ I noticed that the pans actually do a little dance that’s noticeable at high speed. To ensure even wear across the carbon strips the overheard wires move side to side, and to ensure contact is maintained the pan head is equipped with a form of suspension and a balancing rod. This enable the pan head to move dynamically up and down on either side as the wires move left too right. See this video here kzbin.info/www/bejne/iX2mo6ynab95opY

[@NOTHEOTHERGUY]

Does the wire provide the energy for the train to move?

[@railenthusiastabhishek1527]

Will Acela express run on Keystone corridor in regular service ?

[@charlesshivoder2887]

Hello from Cornwall. Hi Eric. So glad to see a new posting from you. What a nice video. I really like the European look of the new train. I’m not too confident of the truck arrangement on the NE Corridor’s bucking bronco track. And I just love the screechy horn. I think I’m in Italy with that wonderful horn noise. I’ll in Florida doing grandparents duty until after the 4th. Have a great holiday. We’ll talk when I return. Stay well. Enjoy life. Hello to the lucky lady!! CAS

[@jamesinman1198]

I like the new design of the Acela Amtrak. It's more colorful. I love the color of it.

[@tonylancaster8704]

I agree the body profile of the coaches and the locos should match but its a nice looking set and i like the paint job

[@Peppagetsadinosaur]

You see the thing is the horn does not go well with the e bell maybe put like the old Acela horn that would fit

[@JohnPap_Net]

0:18 According to Amtrak the "c" in "Acela" sounds like an "s" and not like an "x".

[@fbesonia]

Also called Alstom, it was msde in a French company

[@Ven100]

The side profile irked me at first, but it's a very minor detail. One that I wouldn't notice if this train was whizzing by 186+ MPH. I get why the passenger coaches have that shape (more interior room available) but yes, they could've done the same to the power cars. Here's hoping to more funding for US rail so we can get upgraded tracks to really let these trains run. Maybe we'll get them outside of the NEC Corridor eventually if Amtrak gets more tracks.

[@MSNWindows7]

The shape of the power cars don’t exactly line up with the carriages... kinda bugs me a bit.

[@65gtotrips]

🔰 What’s a ‘shoving platform’❓

[@magic3817]

Why is the cross section shape difference allowed between the engine and the passenger car? Isn’t that an aerodynamic problem creating more drag?

[@alexandergrube6437]

congrats on 100K subs!

[@swashington942]

Seems like that was his goal. No more content afterwards. Lol

[@nhbrail]

Congrats on 100k subs

[@ianbrown9108]

Very reminiscent of European high speed trains and the bogies reminded me of the Gresley Quad-Art sets from the 1930's here in the UK on the LNER,as hauled by A4 Pacifics and locomotives like Flying Scotsman.

[@tonyjones9442]

How many miles is it between Philadelphia and Lancaster?

[@jfmezei]

The Avelia-Liberty appear derived from Avelia-Pendolinos downgraded to run on normal tracks. Shares same tilting system and overall shape. (Alstom got the Pendolinos from Fiat in 2000) The Alstom high speed trains prefer a single pantograph. (Sinkansen use multiple). Not a concern for Amtrak that doesn't operate at high speed. At high speed, the upward forced by first pantograph causes a wave onto the catenary wire which can cause unsven contact by second catenary as it undulates along that up/down wave. Note that when 2 TGVs are coupled, the each have 1 pantogrpah up, so this issue has to be dealt with. But if the real TGVs are designed to operate with 1 pantograph, then the Amtrak version will have no problem with just 1 pantograph since its lower operating speeds require far less power. BTW, the aluminium car shells are actually made in Italy and shipped bare to Hornell NY. Same happened when the Talgos were built in USA from shells built in Europe. Due to FRA having required heavy bendable steel for so many years, the USA lacks industrial capacity to do light trains. (FRA changed its rules to allow light trains to allow Amtrak to confirm importing the Avelia train design from Europe. FRA ackowledged that its own rules had prevented innovation and forced higher costs for trains that had to be custom designed for each small order in USA instead of buying existing designs from France, Germany, Japan or China. With regards to the old Acelas, Amtrak has stated they really want to retire them as soon as each is replaced by a new ones. This points to Amtrak not being happy with maintenance costs for those. They are also very heavy (to comply with the pre 2018 FRA "must be heavy" rules.). The plant and tooling used to make the steel Acelas in Vermont is long ago abandonned and Bombardier Transportation ceases to exist in 2020 when absorbed into Alstom. Not having someone to make spare parts for your trains likely causes high maintenance costs. Unlike the 1950s stainless steel Budd cars that are still in service in Canada today, these Bombardier cars had structural problems from the start, so not sure they are worth the effort to renovate every 20 years. With Amtrak about to place an order for new Amfleet coaches, and already has the ACS locos, the Harrisburg line might be better served by the new cars and ACS locos. When first introduced, the steel Acela banking system had to be reduced to only 6° due to risk of side swiping other trains on the NE corridor line. Not sure what the curves and track spacing is like on the Harrisburg line, but that might also be an issue if they bank too much. They could do as VIA did in Canada with the LRCs and just disable the banking system which really doesn't achieve anything in terms of actual ride since train speed is rarely limited by comfort and always by track conditions in North America. If you look at the Alstom videos of the Liberty, it appears to be a uniform shape between loco and cars. I suspect that during final design, they had to make it different for some reason.

[@remicardona_poly]

TGVs only have their rear pantograph up when running under 25 kV, even on non-high speed lines. The front power car is powered through a cable mounted along the roof of all the cars. As you said, the idea is to prevent waves on the OHLE as train speed goes up. Since Alstom is in charge of building the entire train (unlike the original Acela), I wouldn't be surprised they reused this design which has worked great on TGVs for 40 years.

[@bobbank74]

Has the track been updated to cope with those speeds?

[@chandlerbranchrailfanprodu5928]

Hi Eric! Do you want to voice in my talking trains series? Also, what kind of US Diesel Train do you want to be?

[@LyfovRyan51]

Good to see the train. I hope it has a successful and long career.

[@earthquest814]

I will be happy to see the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to NYC get the high speed rail.

[@industryleadinginitiatives1869]

Hey thanks a lot for filming this really excited to see The Avelia Liberty in action!

[@ralphaverill2001]

Any passenger rail upgrade looks beautiful to me.

[@bingorichards5084]

I still love the italo trains of Italy and the nozomi series 1000 shinkansen of Japan...

[@rodrigoalvesdepaula5262]

The new Acela Liberty design reminds me Alstom New Pendolino. For me, this is one of most beautiful passenger trains ever produced in America. In the other hand, what will happen to old Bombardier Acela trainsets? In my opinion, Amtrak could refurbish these trainsets for Northeast Regional services, selling some Amfleet cars for Third World countries and some ACS-64 for European companies.

[@artoismta]

Does anyone know why the rearmost pantograph is always the one used?

[@phildur]

Yes. Safety reason. In case of trouble and if it breaks, flying parts have less risk of hurting the train behind it.

[@s0nnyburnett]

Not crazy about the paint scheme it's too blocky/chunky and the mismatched locomotive body from the carriages drives me nuts.

[@aether8587]

uhh-- wasn't this promised in 2016? 4 years is quite the wait

[@natejackson8213]

I like the design of the keystone service for Amtrak.

[@Tinsby]

The new ACK sella? Interesting pronunciation. In all my years at Amtrak I never heard that one.

[@jamesbraithwaite478]

Virgin Trains have been running trains not dissimilar to that in the UK (also built by Alstom) for over fifteen years. The difference is, the power cars over here aren't slab-sided. In fairness, that Amtrak design has come a long way from the 400.

[@johnneedy3164]

About time we get this country up to par

[@carmichaeltrainproductionc9663]

I hope to make it back to The Keystone Corredor in the future, on the Amtrak probably take me getting used to!

[@asdsdjfasdjxajiosdqw8791]

You can't beat European engineering. Fantastic train!

[@CO84trucker]

I prefer Siemens budget friendly high speed solutions currently in use in Austria, Czechia and Florida (Siemens Viaggio Comfort / Venture coaches pulled/pushed by a high performance diesel or electric locomotive. Unless the US rail lines are modernized like in Europe, it's impossible to see average speeds above 150 mph. I've riden the ÖBB railjet in Austria from Innsbruck to Vienna and it's quite the improvement over the ÖBB intercity rail of the 90s.

[@KaiHenningsen]

I think I should mention here that the Taurus III (the one that doesn't make music starting, type ES 64 U4) holds the world speed record for locomotives, at 357 km/h I believe, done with a standard model (which was sold to ÖBB and used in regular service, 1216 050). That would be 222 mph.

[@pacmac79]

I went to school at Coatesville HS seemingly a lifetime ago...played football out there & always caught the Amtrak & Septa trains running at speed. Now I live outside of Madison, WI & can't help but think the Acellas would be amazingly productive on the Hiawatha line from Milwaukee to Chicago. Only two things that would be in question would be 1) infrastructure & 2) the freight service volume on that section of line is rather high too.

[@JRNY07]

We need to have high speed rail on the Amtrak Capital Limited (Chicago - Pittsburgh - Washington) I’m hoping in the coming years that both high speed rail and Hyperloop get more start up funding.

[@benmossad2073]

Why do the heads don’t match the profile of the train ???

[@CentralPennRailProductions]

Good question, someone in the comments mentioned it is because of the tilting technology. The power cars do not tilt, but the coaches do. The tilting technology allows trains to take curves at faster speeds.

[@benmossad2073]

Central Penn Rail Productions I don’t think that’s the reason for the flat walls on the power units. I think we just gave up......

[@roboftherock]

The tilt makes high-speed cornering comfortable for the passengers. Since there are no passengers in the power units no need for tilt - hence different profile.

[@benmossad2073]

Robbie Henry I don’t think that the shape of the cars has anything to do with the tilting, look at the German ICE trains, they are all flat.

[@Trains21]

Good stuff, Eric!! Once again you give us a treasure trove of dynamic visuals and sound information, but this time it's in a bite-sized morsel.. Coatesville is on my bucket list for this summer.. I've seen that stone-arch bridge many times but never photographed it.. Moreover, I've always wondered if some of that steel coming out of Arcelor-Mittal comes north through our area on the former 37T (and now 14R).. As for the move itself, it's awesome that you were able to catch such a rare occurrence and now you're sharing with us here on You Tube.. Though I would never wish for anything like the CCP Virus, the timing of the Amtrak's shutdown worked out good with the Acela being able to openly test on the K-Corridor with no interference from the daily grind.. I agree with you; anything new in railroading takes a little getting used to but I'm pretty indifferent to the new design - I always thought of it as just the natural progression of technology.. But then again, with all the changes that I've seen in railroading over the past 30 years (and more recently), nothing really surprises me anymore.

[@NikonF5user]

Did you see the Amtrak train from yesterday's Virtual Rail Fan grab-bag? It had two cars trailing that appeared to be painted in Pennsylvania Railroad regalia...

[@RailfanAndrew]

nice one. I think it looks COOL

[@jeanpierreragequit1726]

Welcome in the XXth century Murica ! Greetings from France !

[@josephpyne7028]

Our country needs this new Avelia Liberty to attract people who prefer rail travel.