Passenger Trains > Amtrak: Acela "Avelia Liberty" to Pueblo mid-Feb.

Per Amtrak Twitter feed, the test train will depart for Pueblo mid-February.

https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/1220073648796528641?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Tweet shows footage of the trainset on the move at Alstom's Hornell facility.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

One hell of an ugly looking nose with a big open mouth!

Cumbresfan Wrote:
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> One hell of an ugly looking nose with a big open
> mouth!

You only see that when they need to couple to something.

the cars kind of remind me of post-war Baltimore & Ohio Columbian and Cincinattian, with their blue and white paint. Too bad there are no Acela domes
 

Platypus nose. The cars look like Talgo in an old British Rail paint scheme. 

They probably would look better with the front closed. But compare them to most of the European counterparts. Those look so sleek and modern. Here, not so much. Also interesting on the Amtrak page there is a photo obviously taken out a Superliner door window. I thought that was forbidden and unsafe. 

How much of the design of the power car noses is driven by crashworthiness requirements? And it does appear the train ventured out onto the "main line" (bridge across the Canisteo River), albeit at walking speed.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

Dcmcrider Wrote:
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> How much of the design of the power car noses is
> driven by crashworthiness requirements? And it
> does appear the train ventured out onto the "main
> line" (bridge across the Canisteo River), albeit
> at walking speed.

A new bridge was built to lengthen the test track. It's not on the main.

Posted from Android

From the exterior renderings from Alstom, the Avelia Liberty-based Acelas are very similar in appearance to the upcoming Avelia Horizon Duplexes that will be debuting in France around the same time that the Acela hits the rails here in the US. Remove that skin and I am sure there's a world of difference down below, though, driven by the way over the top US crashworthiness requirements.

I do find it interesting that this thing has Scharfenburg couplers on it instead of US-style automatic couplers.

Dcmcrider Wrote:
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> How much of the design of the power car noses is
> driven by crashworthiness requirements?

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Photo from Superliner likely taken by Amtrak employee for publicity purposes; likely they would not have posted it otherwise.

Wow. Simply butt-ugly!