Acela trainset separates en route to New York

[TheOldDessauer]

From: Trains Newswire

Acela trainset separates en route to New York

February 6, 2018


WASHINGTON — Amtrak crews are looking for the reason one of the railroad's premiere high-speed trainsets separated while en route to New York this morning.

In a statement, Amtrak officials say Washington to Boston Acela Express train 2150, "experienced a mechanical issue when two of the train’s cars separated" about 6:40 a.m. Eastern time.

The official says 52 passengers were on the train when it separated who were transferred to Amtrak Northeast Regional train 180.

The official says Amtrak crews are inspecting the train to find a cause for the separation.

The official says no injuries were reported by passengers or crew as a result of the incident and that Amtrak crews are inspecting every Acela trainset to prevent another pull apart from happening.

Acela trainsets are semi-permanently coupled and are infrequently separated, even for maintenance.

The New York Post reports that the incident happened in Maryland.

The pull apart is an unheard of safety incident for Amtrak at a time when the passenger railroad has been inundated with wrecks, hits, and investigations. Before today, the latest accident involved Amtrak's Silver Star train 91 that was en route to Miami when an open switch led it to crash into a parked CSX Transportation train near Columbia, S.C., killing an engineer and a conductor. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating that wreck as well as a train-truck hit near Charlottesville, Va., that killed one. These all come less than two months after Amtrak Cascades train 501 went overspeed on a curve in Washington, state killing three people.

As if to add to the railroad's woes, a Pennsylvania judge reinstated criminal charges against Brandon Bostian, a former Amtrak locomotive engineer who was at the throttle during a May 2015 wreck in Philadelphia that killed eight passengers and demolished a Northeast Regional trainset.

[CArailroader]

Amtrak just can't catch a break

[TheOldDessauer]

Amtrak just can't catch a break

Pun? A "break-in two". At least no one got hurt.

[CArailroader]

Amtrak just can't catch a break

Pun? A "break-in two". At least no one got hurt.

I admit to nothing! Actually, I've had that happen to me once. The only difference being we were going 20mph.

[JOHNtheREDNECK]

Found this photo across the internet of the separated train. I'm no expert but the draw bar itself looks to be fine. Must have been a pin or something else on the locking mechanism.

[bh762]

I've seen this before. They need to download FanRailer's coupler fix.

[thegevo5k]

I've seen this before. They need to download FanRailer's coupler fix.

[Chacal]