Passenger Trains > Amtrak San Joaquin #719 10 Hr Delay

Amtrak San Joaquin #719 from last night met the south bound #712 at Pittsburg at about 0840 hours. That puts it at about 10 hours late. 719 was led by BNSF 7473 and I am pretty sure was just a dead head move at this point. Charger 2107 was just along for the ride.

My assumption is that the Charger died on what would have been the last northbound train of the night. A new crew would have had to have been called to bring the train all the way to the Bay Area.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

Mechanical problem with the Charger.

Spoke with an AMTRAK engineer in a CHARGER that was having problems at a station--he said they're "junk."

Too bad that (1) Siemens didn’t produce a few prototypes and release them as demonstrators for the railroads to try out and work out the bugs before going into full on production and (2) the States who purchased these new type engines were in such a rush to buy sight unseen and untested.

Short-Hood-Lead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Too bad that (1) Siemens didn’t produce a few
> prototypes and release them as demonstrators for
> the railroads to try out and work out the bugs
> before going into full on production and (2) the
> States who purchased these new type engines were
> in such a rush to buy sight unseen and untested.

Yet Brightline in Florida does not seem to be having any problems with theirs.

Brightline’s engines are different but I’m not sure if the problem lies within the difference.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/18 13:39 by Short-Hood-Lead.

Brightline maintains them properly . . .

2103 and 2105 have already had there prime movers replaced.
2107 will probably be next.

SCAXEngr Wrote:
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> 2103 and 2105 have already had there prime movers
> replaced.
> 2107 will probably be next.

WOW brand new engines having to have the prime mover replaced already?

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SCAXEngr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 2103 and 2105 have already had there prime
> movers
> > replaced.
> > 2107 will probably be next.
>
> WOW brand new engines having to have the prime
> mover replaced already?

Warranty repair. Do a swap so you can take the "bad" one back to find out what really happened to it.  i.e. maintenance issue or manufacturer issue.

There are only 2 differences between the Brightline Chargers and all the others;
1. The BL Chargers are de rated to 4000 HP
2. The nose piece

In regards to them being called junk by some of the train crews, everyone has their own opinion. However the Chargers, despite the learning curve and some initial problems, have a very high up time / availability rate.

As for the long service delays, this is not something that is unique to the Chargers. All locomotives suffer road failures, and the Chargers are no different. They are machines designed by humans, and like humans have flaws.

KM-ML4000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are only 2 differences between the
> Brightline Chargers and all the others;
> 1. The BL Chargers are de rated to 4000 HP
> 2. The nose piece
>
> In regards to them being called junk by some of
> the train crews, everyone has their own opinion.
> However the Chargers, despite the learning curve
> and some initial problems, have a very high up
> time / availability rate.
>
> As for the long service delays, this is not
> something that is unique to the Chargers. All
> locomotives suffer road failures, and the Chargers
> are no different. They are machines designed by
> humans, and like humans have flaws.

Everything, even locomotives, has their "haters".

Some folks cannot handle anything "new."

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Correct--especially when it causes 10 hr. delays and you're stuck on the train.  There's no reason for that--it's entirely unacceptable. "New" can be very bad when it isn't tested thoroughly.

Compare this with airlines.  The planes they buy work.  Your flight is almost guaranteed to get you there on time.  Not so with AMTRAK.

I wonder if the new AMTRAK CEO is paying attention, given his ariline background?

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Correct--especially when it causes 10 hr. delays
> and you're stuck on the train.  There's no reason
> for that--it's entirely unacceptable. "New" can be
> very bad when it isn't tested thoroughly.
>
> Compare this with airlines.  The planes they buy
> work.  Your flight is almost guaranteed to get
> you there on time.  Not so with AMTRAK.
>
> I wonder if the new AMTRAK CEO is paying
> attention, given his ariline background?

Seriously? Planes get delayed and cancelled for mechanical issues all the time. Often resulting in delays to passengers of one hour to a day or two. My cousin is a United agent in Indy. We aren’t even a big hub for United and breakdowns are very common. Yes it stinks to be delayed when traveling. As I recall Amtrak’s GE locomotives had lots of problems when new too. Machines do break down.

Posted from iPhone

Short-Hood-Lead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Too bad that (1) Siemens didn’t produce a few
> prototypes and release them as demonstrators for
> the railroads to try out and work out the bugs
> before going into full on production and (2) the
> States who purchased these new type engines were
> in such a rush to buy sight unseen and untested.
They seem to be doing fine in the midwest now. There where a few teething issues there too. I would say a year in the midwest is plenty of testing for an engine. Sometimes stuff happens.

bretton88 Wrote:
> They seem to be doing fine in the midwest now.
> There where a few teething issues there too. I
> would say a year in the midwest is plenty of
> testing for an engine. Sometimes stuff happens.

Yes, that is exactly my point. If Siemens would have released a few demonstrators BEFORE a production run, problems could have been identified earlier and addressed before having problems shut down service runs. This would have produced a better quality product and would have boosted Corporate confidence.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/18 07:50 by Short-Hood-Lead.

Any time new equipment is in the equation, it is natural to point the finger in that direction. However, in some cases it is the older equipment not playing well with the new equipment, and is of no fault of the new equipment. The California cars are how many years old, and have been under the care of Amtrak. Your passenger equipment, like your automobile, will only perform if you have a good mechanic and attend to the maintenance properly. We have all had bad experiences with bad mechanics on our vehicles, and the California equipment is no different. Not saying Amtrak is doing a bad job, but PuPu happens.

The Midwest is having the same issues as California. The Cascades are as well, but not to the extent as the other states, because maintenance on the Talgo’s is overseen by Talgo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/18 08:04 by KM-ML4000.

So the passenger cars were the reason for the ten hour delay? (Honest question, I don’t know.)

I won’t know the answer to that until after Thanksgiving when I come back from vacation. Even then, it would not be appropriate for me to post that info in a public forum.
But, the Chargers have uncovered a few problems on some equipment, and more commonly MU jumper cables that are at the end of service life. Amtrak is diligently is correcting the equipment issues and trying to “soften” the learning curves on the Chargers. Siemens is a key player working with Amtrak on all the issues, even if they are not on the Chargers.

My point is, it is not always the Chargers fault, and no matter what you do, you will occasionally have an issue. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/18 08:50 by KM-ML4000.