Hi everyone,
As you may know, yesterday the new Amtrak Acela Express Service
trains started running in the US between Washington and Boston.
The locomotives ("power cars") on these trains are derived from
those on recent generations of the French TGV family. We know
there's "Ada inside" the TGVs in various on-board control systems.
A recent DDC-I news article at
http://www.ddci.com/news/news_vol1num2.html
points to some of it.
I'm looking for a contact who might be able to ascertain whether
the Acela power cars are sufficiently close TGV relatives to
have inherited any of the TGV Ada software. The locomotives are
a French Alstom product.
The coaches are from Bombardier of Canada, and have a tilt
mechanism for faster speed on curves.
The basic Acela technology is described at
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/amtrak/
One more Amtrak project intrigues me too - in addition to the
Acela Express trains, Amtrak is taking delivery on a fleet of
standalone electric locomotives known as "HHP" (high horsepower).
These will pull some of the older trains. The prime contractor
on these is Bombardier, but they are rumored to be derived
from a French model called the BB 36000 made by Alstom.
Can anyone help here? As always, I keep my sources confidential.
Many thanks -
Mike Feldman