Tag: Amtrak

What the hell is with Amtrak Signalling

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I was thinking today. How is it Amtrak’s signalling infrastructure is so fragile yet automobile traffic lights take a pounding all year round and still function nearly flawlessly.

I think the U.S. Congress, including the RI, MA, CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD and DC representatives and senators need to get funding to upgrade the signalling on the entirety of the line from Boston to D.C.

It was so bad today – that the MBTA commuter only went as far as Back Bay Station. So I had to hop on the Orange Line toward Oak Grove and get off a the Downtown Crossing station, then head for the Red Line bound for North Quincy station.

Tomorrow I’m leaving the house early – I want to see what  cluster fuck it’s going to be then.

And let me be clear, I don’t blame the MBTA for this – I blame Amtrak and our Congressional delegation for not investing enough in rail transit in the United States – particularly that cash cow Acela line. When they built the Acela system they replaced the tracking and strung overhead catenary for the trains. But they did not upgrade the signalling.

And let me be abundantly clear – you can design electrical/electronic signalling systems that are immune to high wind and water. It’ll cost a bit more but with the weather patterns being what they’ve been recently it would behoove them to do it soon.

 

Amtrak needs to replace signalling

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I’ve posted about this before. I’m putting all the congress critters on notice. You can in fact design electrical/electronics that don’t go to shit every time there’s a little wind and rain.

In fact my phone is blowing up with MBTA alerts with delays from 20 minutes up to a full hour for later trains. Glad I got on the 4:35PM train because I’d have been plenty pissed if my commute turned into a 2-3 hour odyssey.

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Snowmagedon II

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Well for the second time in not so many days, I guess we got hit by the K storm. To hell with the names in fact use the phonetics. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliette, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yankee, Zulu.

So this storm would be Kilo, the prior Juliette. You get the idea.

Anyhow going out this morning we had maybe a couple inches of snow on the ground. Easy enough to get to the train station. Train did take off a little later than usual but got into Boston slightly earlier – yeah they boogeyed.

But this evening – the Red Line was slow as shit. Got to South Station with five minutes to run to the commuter for the trip back to Providence. And then we slogged from Boston through to Hyde Park where we sat for 30 or more minutes because the Amtrak trains get signalling priority.

What this says to me is next time I’ll wait until 4:15PM, spend anywhere from $37 to $55 for a Business Class ticket and take that back to Providence. It’s much more comfortable, smoother and faster than the MBTA commuter. And it get priority.

Coming home the train station in Providence was all plowed out, so too the new Blue Cross building and residential towers right down to Memorial Blvd. Nice! Then there was some deep snow – I find running through that easier than walking.

And wonder of wonders – RIPTA was actually running. Made it to stop Victor not a minute or two before the #27 bus pulled up. Nice!

But I’m officially at the point where I hate snow. Hate it. I want to live somewhere that there’s no fucking snow at all or that it’s so rare an inch of it will shut everything down.

MBTA slow as shit past few days

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This isn’t the MBTA or MBCR’s problem though. The issue is with Amtrak and more specifically their signalling system.

Apparently there was a failure of the switch elements near Canton Junction – at least judging by the number of Amtrak vehicles and personnel I saw this morning.

Now what I suspect caused the problem – we had three straight days of rain. Water and electronic and electric gear do not play well together.

But this told me we’ll never see true TGV or Shinkansen like speeds on the northeast corridor. The switching network is far too fragile.

Of course there are also co-workers of mine who say the tracks are too curved. But that’s the thing, the Acela trains were built with the ability to tilt into curves. ANd the power car is more than capable of speeds exceeding 200MPH. As I may have said before the power car is built by the same company that built the TGV in France, a company called Alstom.

So almost all the elements are in place for true high speed – but today I was reading that the next phase of the Japanese Shinkansen line will be a Maglev or Magnetic Levitation system. The thing about Maglev is that it has to be in a straight line, so they’re tunneling underground to build the new system. And it’s top speed will be somewhere in the 300MPH+ range. That is awesome. But we’ll never see it in the U.S. because for one, our politicians have no vision. And for two we insist that speeds below 200MPH are high speed. No they aren’t.

And the high speed – not just limited to the Acela trains. The big locomotives are more than capable of hauling ass at 150MPH themselves. It’s what you get when you hybridize a train.

For everything there is a first time: A ride on Acela Express

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So today I get to the Central Square Red Line station and see it’s almost 10 minutes before the next train going toward South Station. What the hell! 

Needless to say the Red line gets in at 4:07:40 – leaving me 20 seconds to get up several flights of stairs and out to the MBTA commuter that leaves at 4:08PM. 

Next train isn’t until 4:35PM. So I went over to the Amtrak kiosk in South Station, plugged my credit card in and bought a $35 business class ticket on train 2173 to D.C. which stops in Providence. 

The train reminds me very much of an airliner more than a train. 

 

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The seats are nice and wide, and they recline quite a ways. 

The Amtrak people are very nice, respectful and courteous. 

The ride itself was a lot smoother than the MBTA commuter. And the entire trip took 45 minutes, saving 25 minutes on what the commuter would take. 

I’d say it was worth the $35 bucks Boston to Providence. I may just do this every Friday, I’ll try out coach it is appointed similarly but tighter seating because that’s only $21. 

All in all I like it. Not stopping at EVERY station is nice. It goes South Station, Back Bay, Rte 128 Station and then Providence. Skips Ruggles, Hyde Park, Sharon, Mansfield, Attleboro and South Attleboro entirely. 

So if you ever get the chance to city hop on the Acela Express I highly recommend it. Very speedy and comfy way to go. 

And for those of you around the U.S. who aren’t served by Acela – all I can say is lobby, lobby, lobby your elected representatives to get electric trains everywhere in the United States.