Amtrak's Bullet Train Debuts

Thursday, November 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Amtrak's shiny new bullet train provided a dramatic background Thursday as political and business leaders prepared to take off on a historic high-speed trip to New York and Boston.

``Every generation is marked by breakthroughs that profoundly affect our society,'' said Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the chairman of Amtrak. ``The launch of Acela Express is one of those truly defining moments.''

Hundreds of invited guests were on hand for a VIP-only trip aboard the train that will set speed records for Amtrak. The snub-nosed Acela Express, powered by two locomotives and including five passenger cars and a cafe car, was expected to reach 135 mph during a two-hour, 28-minute trip to New York and 150 mph during a three-hour, 15-minute run to Boston.

When regular passenger service in the Northeast begins Dec. 11, America finally will have a rail line comparable to the high-speed train service common in Europe and Japan.

``We may be late in America getting on the high-speed bandwagon, but we will truly lead the effort,'' said Amtrak board member Sylvia DeLeon.

Amtrak and high-sped-rail advocates have much riding on Acela Express. If it's a success, it will boost Amtrak's revenues and could lead to other high-speed trains elsewhere in the country.

If it fails, however, Acela Express could be the swan song for Amtrak, the federally subsidized railway that is under orders from Congress to become financially self-sufficient by 2003. Amtrak is relying on the service to earn $180 million a year.

Amtrak President George Warrington said he is convinced Americans will choose the comfort and amenities of trains like Acela Express, so long as the trains travel fast enough to link major cities in two to three hours.

But a nationwide system of high-speed rail would require billions of public dollars to lay new tracks in some corridors, straighten curves, eliminate highway crossings and perform other upgrades of the nation's rail network.

``We've been willing to spend billions and billions of dollars on highways but reluctant to spend money on the alternatives,'' said Anne Chettle, director of public affairs for the High-Speed Ground Transportation Association, a trade group in Washington.

``Hopefully, if the Acela is successful, maybe that will start to change the attitude.''

Once a leader in rail travel, the United States has fallen decades behind other countries. Japan's Shinkansen trains, introduced just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, regularly hit 186 mph and have reached maximum speeds of 275 mph in test runs. France's TGV trains, launched in the late 1960s, also cruise at 186 mph.

Passenger trains in Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and Italy regularly exceed 100 mph. South Korea, Australia and Taiwan are developing high-speed train lines.

In the United States, the top speed for most passenger trains outside the Northeast Corridor â€” the area between Washington and Boston where tracks have been modernized â€” is 79 mph.

Acela Express operates with a sensor-driven tilt system that allows the train to maintain high speeds through curves. Problems with the tilt technology, along with premature wheel wear, forced a delay in plans to begin Acela Express in October 1999.

Amtrak received the first of 20 eight-car train sets last month from the consortium building Acela Express â€” Canada's Bombardier Transportation and France's Alstom Ltd. All 20 trains should be in service by next summer.

Acela Express will cut about a half-hour off the current Metroliner service between Washington and New York and about 45 minutes off the New York-to-Boston trip.

A one-way coach ticket between Washington and New York will be $143, up from $122 on Metroliner. Travel between New York and Boston will cost $120, compared to $57 on conventional Amtrak trains, which will continue to run in the Northeast Corridor.

For now, Acela Express will reach its top speed only through portions of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Elsewhere, it will be slowed by congested tracks, aging tunnels and bridges and safety concerns at grade crossings.

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On the Net:

Amtrak's Acela site: http://www.acela.com