Any Details on Acela Brake Cracks?
Any Details on Acela Brake Cracks?
(OP)
It was news in May that the Acela trains had "cracked brake disks", but there haven't been many details. About the best I have seen are:
htt p://host18 .hrwebserv ices.net/~ myjackp/ma y1205.html and
http ://www.was hingtonpos t.com/wp-d yn/content /article/2 005/05/11/ AR20050511 02089.html
Can anyone point me to updates or details? Tnx.
htt
http
Can anyone point me to updates or details? Tnx.





RE: Any Details on Acela Brake Cracks?
Existence of a Government Accountability Office was also news to me. I don't know whom to thank for that.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Any Details on Acela Brake Cracks?
There was a lot of bits and pieces of information about the rotor when they took the Acela trains out of service. There were several investigative reports by people that knew absolutely nothing about nothing. This was evident by the display of car/truck brake rotors with heat checks, had nothing to do with the actual problem on the Acela.
I have an ex-colleague who was close to the problem and was keeping up with the progress but told me that all of a sudden there was a blackout on information at his end. He was initially under the impression that his group was going to get a part for investigation but that never happened.
If the few pictures of the rotor that have been published are represenetive of the actual failures the direction of the crack is a little difficult to explain from an operational point of view. Seen through the hub failures, traverse spoke failures, rim failures, etc., but never radial spoke failures other than some manufacturing defects.