Woooooosh!

To start this off in grand style, my first post will be about Amtrak’s top-tier Northeast Corridor service, the Acela Express.

Acela trains lined up in Washington DC

I recently rode the Acela to Boston this past weekend, a short trip for Memorial Day. I’ve ridden the Acela twice before, and yes, it would be less than half the cost to take a Northeast Regional, but I want to ride whenever the opportunity presents itself before Amtrak replaces the train sets in 2020.

The Acela Express trains were introduced in 2000 in conjunction with the extension of electrification from New Haven to Boston and as a replacement for the iconic Metroliner service operating for decades prior. They were built in the mid 1990s by a combination of Bombardier and Alston, and entered service in 2000. At that time, Amtrak, in its infinite wisdom, decided to rebrand all its services along the Northeast Corridor as Acela. High speed trains would be called Acela Express, regional trains (also traveling south of Washington DC) would be called Acela Regionals, and the now discontinued Philadelphia-New York service would be called Acela Commuter. These names were dropped in 2003, with the Acela Express now the only trains to cary the Acela name.

Acela Express business class car

An end to end trip takes approximately seven hours. The typical speed on the Northeast Corridor is between 110 and 120 miles per hour, with a maximum speed of 150 mph on two segments of track in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and a minimum speed of 90 mph between New Rochelle, NY and New Haven. Acelas usually leave from Washington every hour, starting at 5:00am on weekdays and ending at 4:00pm for the Washington-Boston run. Trains on the Washington-New York run start earlier and end later. That trip takes just under three hours.

Due to the high ridership, I generally recommend to arrive at the gate an hour before the train is scheduled to depart. On some of the more popular mid week trains, Thankfully, security takes significantly less time at train stations than at airports. No time at all in fact, as a train can’t be easily removed from their tracks by hijacking.

The Acela has two classes, business class and first class. There’s no basic coach level. Plebeians aren’t allowed, you see. Each train has four business class cars, one cafe car, and one first class car. Business class cars are four seats across, while first class cars are three seats across. The food in the cafe car isn’t that different from the faire on regionals, whereas those lucky enough to afford first class tickets (roughly $500 for a Washington-Boston trip) are served dining car level food and drink at their seats. I can only assume that for the price, massages are also included. 

Cafe car menu

Interior of the cafe car

The seats are leather and slightly larger than those of Northeast Regional coach class, as well as the addition of another mile to the already generous amount of leg room in coach. The seats are somewhat lacking in the area of head support though, and when I make this trip again I’ll make sure to bring a travel pillow with me. Additionally, the trains are starting to show their age. While the interiors were updated slightly in 2010, changing the seats from fabric to leather, the slightly fading paint scheme remains the sleek early 2000s bare stainless steel with splotch decals.

On one previous trip, the tray table of the seat next to mine squeaked somewhat annoyingly and would not stay retracted. The air conditioner also was not turned on until we had been traveling for about fifteen or twenty minutes, and the large windows of the passenger cars (allowing for unencumbered views of New England) had the side effect of making the car I was in heat up rather rapidly. Someone must have sensed my complaints, because this ride to Boston was borderline freezing the whole way.

The Acela is a unique experience in North America, giving us only a taste of what the rest of civilization takes for granted. Unfortunately, it would take decades and hundreds of billions of dollars to make the full route into true high speed rail. Some parts of the track have not been upgraded since the 1870s, and the New England coast, while scenic, is too winding to allow for high speeds. Despite this, I cannot recommend riding it enough.