Avelia Liberty

Avelia Liberty is a tilting high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom (similar to SNCF TGV M) and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 train sets for use on its flagship Acela service along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., via New York City and Philadelphia.

It is part of the Avelia family of high-speed trains but adapted to conform with North American railroad standards, including U.S. Federal Railroad Administration crashworthiness standards. Amtrak says that compared to the prior generation, these trainsets would allow for improved frequency and greater capacity on the Acela service.

, the trains are undergoing testing, and are expected to enter passenger service in late 2024.

History
In 2000, Amtrak introduced the Acela service along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., via New York City and Philadelphia. The service uses a dedicated Acela Express trainset that was built by a consortium of Alstom and Bombardier between 1998 and 2001.

In August 2016, Amtrak announced a $2.4 billion loan from the United States Department of Transportation for the purchase of new high-speed train sets for the Acela service from Alstom. Alstom will also provide long-term technical support and supply spare components and parts. These next generation train sets would replace the 20 existing trainsets that were nearing the end of their useful service life. The 28 train sets ordered would allow for more frequent service on the Northeast Corridor, including half-hourly peak service between New York City and Washington, D.C.

Construction and testing
U.S. assembly of the train sets is taking place at Alstom's plants in Hornell and Rochester, New York. Initial construction of car bodies and major components began at Hornell in October 2017. The first prototype set was sent to the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado in February 2020 for testing on the high-speed test track. During the nine months of expected trials, the train sets were tested at speeds up to 165 mph. A second prototype was delivered in March 2020 to Amtrak for testing along the service tracks in the Northeast which began in May 2020. The first test run up to Boston South Station occurred on September 28, 2020.

By 2020, the first train set was expected to enter revenue service in early 2022, with all train sets in service by late 2022, at which point Amtrak would retire the previous Acela fleet. However,, full high-speed testing is not expected to begin until late 2022. In May 2022, 15 of the 28 trainsets were in "some phase of production".

Testing at up to 165 mph took place in 2022. As of May 2023, the first trainsets are expected to enter revenue service in 2024, three years behind schedule. Testing has revealed a number of incompatibility issues due to the lack of tracks built to accommodate high-speed trains—Acela shares tracks with commuter lines and freight lines—and the age of infrastructure in the Northeast, some of which dates back almost two centuries.

In October 2023, a report from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General disclosed that the Avelia Liberty would likely go into service in the second half of 2024.

On January 13, 2024, Amtrak announced that after thirteen previous failures, the Avelia Liberty had passed a series of computer simulations of running the trains over the Northeast Corridor tracks. Having passed the simulation, the trainsets have been approved by the Federal Railroad Administration for on-track testing between Washington and Boston.

Features and production
Although Amtrak initially favored a New Pendolino derivative, the train set trailers are based on the AGV and power car design is based on Avelia Horizon, designed for the French high-speed rail network (TGV), but adapted to conform with North American railroad standards, including U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)'s crashworthiness standards.

Besides containing more train sets than the prior generation, the new fleet will have train sets that each have 378 seats and 8 wheelchair locations for a total capacity of 386 passengers, allowing for 25% greater passenger capacity per train set. They will be equipped with an active tilt system, dubbed Tiltronix by Alstom and based on Pendolinos, that will allow higher speeds on curved portions of the corridor track at a maximum tilt angle of 6.3°.

Each Avelia Liberty train set has power cars at each end of the train, and (initially) nine articulated passenger cars. An additional three passenger cars can be added if demand grows. The power cars include a Crash Energy Management system to help meet the FRA's Tier-III standards while allowing a 30 percent reduction in train weight. These trains will also have USB ports, power sockets, Wi-Fi, accessibility features, touchless bathroom facilities, trip information displays, a café car, improved HVAC, and other conveniences.

The new train sets, along with track and signaling improvements, will allow for an initial improvement in maximum regular service speed to 160 mph on some portions of the route. Many infrastructure upgrades are underway or completed, allowing for more frequent service and faster speeds.