Passenger Trains > Acela breaks down...snafu at Washington Union Station

At the height of the morning rush hour today, Sept. 10, Amtrak train 2154, an Acela Express,
broke down and blocked the entire throat of Washington Union Station.  This caused trains to
begin stacking up in the terminal. Once the terminal became too congested, no additional
trains could enter the station.

Many inbound commuters were stuck, had to detrain at outlying stations because their trains
could not move.

The crippled Acela was dragged away after 9am but by then the damage had been done.

STATE OF GOOD REPAIR...has it now infected Acela and the sainted Northeast Corridor, too?
(or has it always been there, just hidden amongst the volume of trains?)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/19 09:28 by GenePoon.

At least it didn't break in two at speed. They have two power units. Must be some reason it could not move at all on its own. Did it snag the catenary, like one did on the Hell Gate ?

Train 2154 is due out at 7:00, so it sat there for a while.

VRE passengers were advised to detrain at Alexandria or L'Enfant. Unfortunately some conductors told passengers erroneously that their rides on WMATA would be gratis. WMATA discontinued the "Metro Option" program a year ago and it no longer honors VRE (or MARC) tickets in the event of a commuter line service disruption. Refugees from VRE have to pay, like everyone else.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

STATE OF GOOD REPAIR was from the David Gunn period.  Unfortunately, for all of us, he is long gone and retired.

Amtrak Acela units are nearly 20 years old. For many years, Amtrak used Reliability Centered Maintenance. This predictive repair system is used by the Air Force and Navy for high risk operations.

Amtrak hired a Navy guy to run the Acela program. Worked well for years. Very well.

I understand RCM has been discontinued, and usua! repair protocols were adopted.

Posted from Android

This to me is totally uncalled for that one train can block all the others coming in and out of the Washington Union Station.  Why is it that no one running this railroad does not have enough common sense to send one of the diesel switchers out there and drag that train out of the way?  But as a wise person told me some years back, common sense isn't so common anymore.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I understand RCM has been discontinued, and usua!
> repair protocols were adopted.

==============================================

"Run it til it breaks, then break out the duct tape and baling wire."

The RCM program was one of the best programs they ever had.  Why the hell did they get rid of it?

IDK. Short-term focus on penny-pinching ? So this is how they run a "profitable" service. 

raytc1944 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The RCM program was one of the best programs they
> ever had.  Why the hell did they get rid of it?

The guy over seeing the program was frozen out of senior level discussions. Budgets were cut. The operation was folded into existing processes. The top guys moved on.

Why fix stuff before it breaks? What do the Navy and Air Force know about mission critical reliability?

RCM was not accepted in other Amtrak facilities, so it remained Acela only.

Posted from Android

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This to me is totally uncalled for that one train
> can block all the others coming in and out of the
> Washington Union Station. 

I agree - breakdowns and snafus happen - that's
not necessarily a "State of good repair" issue. 
Besides, the new "Avelia Liberty" trains, if I recall
correctly, will start testing later this year.

What I find most amazing, however - is that I was
not out trying to take pictures along the NEC this
morning, lol. 

/Mitch

I like to know why it took 2 hours to get that train out of the way so the station access could get unplugged, some train master was asleep at the switch

Am I the only one who is completely surprised that a program like RCM would not be operative during the tenure of a CEO who is an ex-airline guy? Maybe I'm wrong or misinformed, but I have sure been under the impression that the aircraft I boarded for a flight was maintained -- and rather strictly -- by a preventive / predictive maintenance program. A break / fix -style program somehow just does not seem to work too well for aircraft flying at 30,000 feet.

And if the RCM program was cancelled before Anderson's time as CEO, why in the world would he not insist on starting it up again? Especially for his beloved NEC and Acelas? Help me out, folks. I am really scratching my head on this one.

MC

In the NEC, especially for their prized train, yes.
Everywhere else, no. He is very good at impersonating 1970 Penn Central and sending known defects out onto the road.