Amtrak in dark on Acela maintenance

The faulty brake discs that forced Amtrak's Acela Express out of service should have been checked for cracks roughly every 12,000 miles, but the railroad was unaware of such a maintenance procedure, Amtrak's inspector general said.

Amtrak only learned of what it calls a maintenance ''requirement" after the trains had traveled roughly a half-million miles and after an inspector found cracks in 300 of the trains' 1,440 discs last month.

In testimony before a House subcommittee yesterday, Amtrak inspector general Fred E. Weiderhold Jr. said that cracks had been detected on the discs at least twice by workers at an outside maintenance facility, cracks that may have existed for as long as two years but were never reported to Amtrak.

Weiderhold also said that the brake discs' makers, a consortium of companies including Knorr Brake Corp., Faively Transport, and SAB Wabco, a Faively subsidiary, have said they were ''too busy" to meet with his staff.

''I cannot overemphasize that we have a number of open questions that need to be resolved," Weiderhold said, according to a written copy of his testimony. ''We requested interviews with the supplier/manufacturer, but so far we have been told they are too busy to meet with us."

An Amtrak spokeswoman said she could not comment on the testimony, and Weiderhold's office could not be reached yesterday.

Officials at SAB Wabco's Paris headquarters and Knorr's Westminster, Md., offices could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Amtrak found out about the requirement to check for cracks every 12,000 miles after asking for a copy of an accompanying technical manual from SAB Wabco, Weiderhold said.

Amtrak and its suppliers are also testing a new brake disc design that could permanently replace the ones that cracked, Weiderhold said. Amtrak has said Acela will not return to service until summer. William Crosbie, Amtrak's chief operating officer, said the Acela problem is costing the railroad more than $1 million a week in net losses.

Yesterday's hearing was the first before Congress to provide an update on the investigation into what caused Acela's brake discs to crack. An inspector found the cracks on April 14 after Amtrak conducted speed tests on Acela trains in New Jersey.

That inspector, identified yesterday as Rich Thomas, first saw the tiny cracks after noticing what appeared to be rust spots, according to testimony by Robert D. Jamison, acting administrator at the railroad administration. Jamison said the cracks are difficult to find because they are on spokes that can be hidden by other parts of the trains' undercarriage.

Jamison credited Thomas for possibly preventing ''a serious accident," and added that his agency is working with Amtrak to improve the maintenance and inspection regimen for Acela upon its eventual return to service.

Amtrak has said that the speed tests did not cause the cracks because cracks were found in trains that weren't part of the tests.

Amtrak is also hoping for good news from Congress on the future of its federal funding. Last month, a House subcommittee passed a three-year, $6 billion package for the financially ailing railroad, but President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget would end federal operating subsidies for Amtrak altogether.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.