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The news did a story on the NEC power outage. I saw a diesel-electric engine(maybe gp40) behind a Electric engine on point of Amtrak train. I didnt know Electric and diesel electric can run together. Or did I see it wrong?
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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What did you note, Mr. GP-35?
If you noted a diesel locomotive pulling an electric and a train, that is quite plausible. Diesels were used during the incident to remove trains from both the tunnels under the Hudson River in New York and from the Baltimore tunnels as well.
The new MP-15 diesel locomotives Amtrak acquired last year were designed to operate into the Hudson River tunnels for just such rescue missions.
Additionally, from reviewing material posted elsewhere, it appears that diesel locomotives were used to move other trains to the nearest station so that passengers could be detrained.
gp35 Member # 3971
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No, I saw the diesel between the coaches and the electric engine.
dilly Member # 1427
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You saw two separate trains, nose to nose -- a diesel-powered New Jersey Transit commuter train attempting to push a disabled electric-powered NJT train, which remained stranded for over three hours as its passengers took turns standing at the open doors to catch a breath of fresh air. In typical fashion, several local TV stations filled hours of morning airtime with a static helicopter shot of the two motionless trains, as various "experts" provided running commentary.
Reporter: "Any idea when the trains will be running again?"
Expert: "As soon as the power comes back on."
Kind of like watching and listening to paint dry.
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Eric R. Member # 4123
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Amtrak seemed characteristically quiet in its response to press throughout the incident. Granted, there wasn't much they could do to remedy the situation once it began, but from what I've heard, train crews did not communicate well with passengers, and the company was not very transparent about the source of the outage with newsmedia. (Poor updates on the company's website are one indication of its inability to deal proactively with newsmedia.) This prompted Sen. Schumer to criticize the railroad's management--in essence, he said that the response was "incompetent." It's particularly important that the outage occurred just before the appropriations process for Amtrak began. I'm not really sure how to assess it's impact on funding. On one hand, it underscores the need for capital investment. On the other, it doesn't cast a very favorable light on the organization that will receive the subsidies, as it certainly did not get positive reviews for its seemingly passive response to the outage.
gp35 Member # 3971
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NOOOOO, that 2 different trains is not what I saw. The diesel was connected to the passager coaches. The electrain engine was connected to the diesel. The diesel was second behind the electric engine.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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AOL news made the NEC incident sound like it was 100% AMTRAK's fault that there was a power outage, and that if AMTRAK were "privatized," things like that wouldn't happen. (of course, not one wink of blame is put on the commuter agencies like NJT and MARC.....) AOL news also mentioned about how much money AMTRAK has "lost" this year and ever since 1971, and about how it is so heavily government-subsidized and so poorly managed, etc., etc., etc.
Gee, if weather conditions cancel hundreds and hundreds of airline flights on a certain day, no one blinks an eye, yet if there is a NEC power outage which impacts AMTRAK, then you sure hear about that and how AMTRAK is so "poorly managed," don't you?.......
Eric R. Member # 4123
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Well, MARC, NJT, and other commuter agencies do not run the infrastructure. The facilities that were hit were all Amtrak owned and operated, so this is the corporation's liability. And it wouldn't be inappropriate to address management of the compant historically, which has been bad--as well as the comany's ability to respond to emergencies, which yesterday proved was fair, though not stellar.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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With reference to May 25, let the finger pointing begin.
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