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The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
via 13 intermediate stops, including
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. ''Acela'' trains are the fastest in the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
, reaching (qualifying as high-speed rail), but only over of the route. ''Acela'' carried more than 3.4 million passengers in fiscal year 2016; second only to the slower and less expensive '' Northeast Regional'', which had over 8 million passengers. Its 2016 revenue of $585 million was 25% of Amtrak's total. ''Acela'' operates along routes that are used by freight and slower regional passenger traffic, and reaches the maximum allowed speed of the tracks only along some sections, with the fastest peak speed along segments between
Mansfield, Massachusetts Mansfield is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the United States 2020 Census, the town population is 23,860. Mansfield is in the south-southwest suburbs of Boston and is also close to Providence, Rhode Island. The vi ...
and Richmond, Rhode Island, and New Brunswick and South Brunswick (Trenton in 2024), New Jersey. ''Acela'' trains use active tilting technology, which helps control lateral centrifugal force, allowing the train to travel at higher speeds on the sharply curved NEC without disturbing passengers. The high-speed operation occurs mostly along the route from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Union Station in Washington, D.C., with a fastest scheduled time of 2 hours and 45 minutes and an average speed of , including time spent at intermediate stops.The timetable gives 2 hours and 45 minutes, minimum, between Washington and New York. Dividing that into the distance traveled, , gives an average speed of . Over this route, ''Acela'' and the ''Northeast Regional'' service captured a 75% share of air/train commuters between New York and Washington in 2011, up from 37% in 2000. The ''Acela'' speed is limited by traffic and infrastructure on the route's northern half. On the section from Boston's South Station to New York's Penn Station, the fastest scheduled time is 3 hours and 30 minutes, or an average speed of .The timetable gives 3 hours and 30 minutes, minimum, between New York and Boston. Dividing that into gives an average speed of . Along this section, ''Acela'' has captured a 54% share of the combined train and air market. The entire route from Boston to Washington takes between 6 hours, 38 minutes and 6 hours, 50 minutes, at an average speed of around .The timetable gives 6 hours and 30 minutes, minimum, between Washington and Boston. Dividing that into gives an average speed of . The present equipment (the Acela Express trainset) will be replaced by new
Avelia Liberty Avelia Liberty, also known as the Acela II, is a high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 trainsets for use on its flagship ''Acela'' ...
trainsets, beginning in late 2023. The new trains will have greater passenger capacity and an enhanced active tilt system that will allow higher speed on the many curved sections of the route.


History


Background

Following the success of Japan's newly inaugurated Shinkansen network, the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 authorized the U.S. government to explore the creation of high-speed rail, which resulted in the introduction of the higher-speed '' Metroliner'' trains between Washington, D.C. and
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1969, the predecessor to ''Acela''. During the 1980s, the U.S.
Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail sa ...
explored the possibilities of high-speed rail in the United States. On December 18, 1991, five potential high speed rail corridors were authorized, including the Northeast Corridor. In the early 1990s, Amtrak tested several different high-speed trains from Europe on the Northeast Corridor. An X 2000 train was leased from Sweden for test runs from October 1992 to January 1993, followed by revenue service between Washington, D.C. and New York City from February to May and August to September 1993. Siemens showed the
ICE 1 The ICE 1 is the first batch-produced German high-speed train and one of six in the Intercity Express family. Revenue service at speeds up to started in 1991. It was raised to in May 1995 and temporary reduced to again, as a result of ...
train from Germany, organizing the ICE Train North America Tour which started to operate on the Northeast Corridor on July 3, 1993.


Building and development

With the testing of the trains from Europe complete, Amtrak was able to define a set of specifications for high-speed equipment and in October 1994, Amtrak requested bids from train manufacturers for a trainset that could reach . A consortium of Bombardier (75%) and GEC Alsthom (now Alstom) (25%) was selected in March 1996. On March 9, 1999, Amtrak unveiled its plan for the ''Acela Express,'' a high-speed train on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Several changes were made to the corridor to make it suitable for higher-speed electric trains. The
Northend Electrification Project Amtrak operates a 60 Hz traction power system along the Northeast Corridor between New Haven, Connecticut,Specifically, Amtrak's 25 kV system begins at the Mill River Interlocking about two miles north of New Haven Union Station and Boston, ...
extended existing electrification from
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...
, to Boston to complete the overhead power supply along the route, and several grade crossings were improved or removed. Prior to 2000, all trains bound for Boston had to switch to diesel power at New Haven. A pilot trainset was completed by early 2000 and sent to
Transportation Technology Center The Transportation Technology Center (TTC) is a railroad equipment testing and training facility located northeast of Pueblo, Colorado, owned by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). It was built in 1971 as the High Speed Ground Test Center ...
(TTC) for testing in June 2000. An inaugural VIP run of the ''Acela'' occurred on November 16, 2000, with the VIP train being led by power car number 2020 with no. 2009 at the opposite end, followed by the first revenue run on December 11, 2000, a few months after the intended date.


Impact of the ''Acela''

By 2005, Amtrak's share of the common-carrier market between New York and Boston had reached 40%, from 18% pre-''Acela''. With the increasing popularity of the faster, modern ''Acela Express'', '' Metroliner'' service was phased out in late 2006. To meet the demand, more ''Acela'' services were added in September 2005. By August 2008 crowding had become noticeable. By 2011, the ''Acela'' fleet had reached half of its designed service life. Amtrak proposed several replacement options, including one as part of its ''A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor''. In 2011, Amtrak announced that forty new ''Acela'' coaches would be ordered in 2012 to increase capacity on existing trainsets. The existing trains would have received two more coaches, lengthening the trainsets from a 1-6-1 configuration to 1-8-1 (power car — passenger cars — power car). The longer trainsets would have required the modifications of the ''Acela'' maintenance facilities in Boston, New York and Washington. The first of the stretched trainsets was to have entered service in
fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
2014. This plan was cancelled in 2012 in favor of replacing, rather than refurbishing, the ''Acela'' fleet. In January 2014, Amtrak issued a request for proposals on 28 or more new model ''Acela'' trainsets, in a combined order with the California High-Speed Rail Authority. These bids were due May 17, 2014. After discussions with manufacturers, Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority concluded their needs were too disparate for common rolling stock and decided not to pursue the joint option.


Cost

Amtrak's original contract with the Bombardier-Alstom consortium was for the delivery of 20 trainsets (6 coaches each, with power cars at front and rear) for $800 million. By 2004, Amtrak had settled contract disputes with the consortium, paying a total of $1.2 billion for the 20 trainsets plus 15 extra high-speed locomotives and the construction of maintenance facilities in Boston, New York, and Washington.


Branding

Before the introduction of the Acela, there were several classes of trains on the Northeast Corridor: the express '' Metroliners'', the Philadelphia-New York '' Clockers'', '' Empire Service'' trains between New York City and
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...
via the Empire Corridor, '' Keystone Service'' trains between New York City and to
Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...
via the Keystone Corridor, and the
umbrella term In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In othe ...
''
NortheastDirect The ''Northeast Regional'' is an inter-city rail, intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeast megalopolis, Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''Northeas ...
'', applied to other trains on the corridor (in addition to unique names assigned to many departures). The ''Acela'' name was announced on March 9, 1999, as a part of the original announcement of the service itself. The branding team based the name "''Acela''" on the ideas of
acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by ...
and excellence. At the same time, Amtrak launched what it called the Capstone Program, a short-lived plan to
rebrand Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
the ''
NortheastDirect The ''Northeast Regional'' is an inter-city rail, intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeast megalopolis, Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''Northeas ...
'', '' Keystone Service'' and '' Empire Service'' trains as ''Acela Regional'' and the '' Clocker'' trains as ''Acela Commuter''. The ''Acela Regional'' name was first applied to ''NortheastDirect'' trains 130–133 on January 31, 2000. Those trains were the first electrified trains to run on the full Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston. As more trains were electrified, they too were rebranded. Following mass rider confusion between the three services, the branding was removed from the lower-speed ''Acela Regional'' and ''Acela Commuter'' trains in 2003.' On September 23, 2019, Amtrak shortened the name of the service from ''Acela Express'' to simply ''Acela''. At the same time, Amtrak introduced the ''Acela Nonstop'', a direct train from Washington, D.C. to New York's Penn Station. The nonstop service was temporarily suspended as of March 10, 2020, due to low ridership caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.


Engineering


First-generation trainsets

The first-generation ''Acela'' trainset is a unique set of vehicles designed specifically to satisfy governmental rolling stock requirements established primarily by the
Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail sa ...
(FRA). This includes the ability to withstand a collision with a freight train at speed without collapsing. Most manufacturers that bid on the ''Acela'' were unable to meet the structural requirements, due to increased costs and complications for the manufacture of the trains, and the need for manufacturers to make significant engineering changes to their standard designs. In the end, only three qualified bidders remained: ABB (Swedish-Swiss manufacturer of the X 2000 train), Siemens (manufacturer of the German ICE), and a consortium of Bombardier (manufacturer of the LRC trains) and Alstom (manufacturer of the French
TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
). The design, using identical power cars at each end which operate on voltages of 12 kV, 12.5 kV, and 25 kV AC, and either 25 or 60 Hz frequency, derives several components from the TGV, such as the third-generation TGV's traction system (including the four asynchronous AC motors per power car, rectifiers, inverters, and regenerative braking), the trucks/bogies structure (a long-wheelbase dual transom H frame welded steel with outboard mounted tapered roller bearings), the brake discs (although there are only three per axle, versus four on the TGV), and crash energy management techniques to control structural deformation in the event of an accident. The tilting carriages are based upon Bombardier's earlier LRC trains used on Via Rail rather than the TGV's non-tilting articulated trailers. ''Acela'' power cars and passenger cars are much heavier than those of the TGV in order to meet the FRA's crash standards. French and Canadian crews testing the ''Acela'' referred to it as "the pig" due to its weight. The extra weight leads to the ''Acela'' power-to-weight ratio being about 22.4 hp per tonne, compared to 30.8 hp for a SNCF TGV Reseau trainset. The Tier II crash standards, adopted in 1999, have also resulted in the passenger cars being designed without steps and trapdoors, which means that the trainsets can only serve lines with high-level platforms such as the Northeast Corridor. ''Acela'' trains are semi-permanently coupled (but not articulated as in the TGV) and are referred to as trainsets. Bombardier later used the ''Acela'' carriage design and a
diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engi ...
/ gas turbine variant of the power car for its experimental JetTrain.


Second-generation trainsets

On August 26, 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden announced a $2.45 billion federal loan package to pay for new equipment for the ''Acela Express'' service, as well as upgrades to the NEC. The loans will finance 28
Avelia Liberty Avelia Liberty, also known as the Acela II, is a high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 trainsets for use on its flagship ''Acela'' ...
trainsets that will be built by Alstom in
Hornell Hornell is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early settlers. The City of Hornell is surrounded by Town of Hornellsville. Hornell is about ...
and
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
and will replace the existing fleet of twenty Acela trainsets. The fleet expansion will allow for hourly New York-Boston service all day and half-hourly New York-Washington service at peak hours. The new trainsets will be longer, have 386 seats compared to 304 on Acela Express (a 27% increase) and will feature active tilt technology that will initially allow service to operate at 160 mph (260 km/h) and would allow for service if proposed infrastructure improvements are completed. The new trains were expected to be phased in between 2021 and 2022, after which the current fleet was to be retired. Trains are now expected to enter passenger service in late 2023.


Operating speeds

Although the first-generation Acela Express trainsets were designed with a top speed of and the second-generation Avela Liberty trainsets will be designed to reach , the existing infrastructure of the Northeast Corridor significantly limits speeds. The maximum speed limit on the Northeast Corridor is on of the route, in four sections of track in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. The ''Acela'' achieves an average speed (including stops) of between Washington and New York, and an average speed of from New York to Boston. The average speed over the entire route is . Speeds are limited by the route the corridor takes through urban areas, and there are several speed restrictions below over bridges or through tunnels that are over a century old. Altogether, Amtrak has identified 224 bridges along ''Acela'' route that are beyond their design life. South of the Delaware River, the ''Acela'''s top speed is . One limiting factor is the
overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...
support system which was constructed before 1935 and lacks the constant-tension features of the new catenary east of New Haven. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran '' Metroliner'' test trains in the late 1960s as fast as and briefly intended to run the ''Metroliner'' service at speeds reaching . Certification testing for commercial operation at involving test runs at up to began between Trenton and New Brunswick in September 2012. Passenger operation at began in this region in late May 2022. The fastest schedule between New York and Washington, DC was 2 hours, 45 minutes in 2012. $450 million was allotted by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's administration to replace catenary and upgrade signals between Trenton and
New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, which will allow speeds of over a stretch. The improvements were scheduled to be completed in 2016, but have been delayed; the project was partially completed in late May 2022, with the remainder projected in 2024. This section of track holds the record for the highest speed by a train in the US, which is , achieved in a test run by the U.S./Canada-built UAC TurboTrain on December 20, 1967. North of New York City, Amtrak upgraded the track along the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven to allow maximum speeds in excess of , in preparation for the ''Acela'' launch. Although this area contains the fastest current operating speeds (150 mph), it also has the slowest section of the NEC: between New Rochelle, New York and New Haven, Connecticut. This section is owned by Metro-North Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation and is heavily used by commuter trains which limit the speed of the ''Acela''. Amtrak's trains achieve only on a limited stretch in New York State and rarely exceed at any time eastbound through Connecticut until reaching New Haven. In 1992, ConnDOT began plans to upgrade the catenary system and replace outdated bridges on the New Haven Line to enable the ''Acela'' to run slightly faster. the catenary replacement and bridge work were under way and expected to be completed by mid-2018. On July 9, 2007, Amtrak introduced a limited-stop round trip, with trains stopping only at Philadelphia between New York and Washington. This shortened the trip between the two cities to 2 hours 35 minutes, making the trip roughly an hour faster than some of the '' Northeast Regional'' train services. These trains were an experiment to find ways to expedite travel time on the ''Acela''; Amtrak has since dropped them.


High speed infrastructure

The dense population of the northeastern United States makes the Northeast Corridor the most heavily traveled portion of the American passenger rail system. Two-thirds of rail passengers in the United States live in or near New York City, also home to the nation's busiest passenger rail station,
Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...
. In order to compete with airliners, Amtrak needed to increase the speed of trains in the region. The former Shore Line from New Haven to Boston is burdened by sharp turns and grade crossings, the crossings being of special concern. Tilting enables passengers to ride more comfortably on curved sections of track faster than would otherwise be possible, by leaning into the bend. ''Acela'' trainsets use active tilting above on most of the system, but some segments of track in the Northeast Corridor are too close together for the cars to safely tilt while maintaining
FRA A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...
minimum space between trains on parallel tracks. Metro-North Railroad restricts tilting on the segment of track north of New York which it owns. The system was originally designed for a 6.8° tilt, but the cars were redesigned wider to accommodate wider seats and aisles that reduced allowable tilt to 4.2° to fit within the clearance constraints of the existing tracks. Traveling at higher than also requires constant-tension catenary, which is only implemented on the more modern catenary system north of New York City. South of New York City, the trains are restricted to . By comparison, the ''Northeast Regional'' and the now-defunct ''Metroliner'' service reached . ''Acela'' service was originally expected to begin in late 1999 but was delayed. The catenary system could not support the intended speeds between Washington DC and New York City, but the newer system between New York City and Boston allows the higher speeds. Attention was drawn to the decreased 4.2° tilt, but this was not the root of the speed problem, as the tracks from New York to Boston are similar to those between New York and Washington, and the tilt mechanism is not the factor enabling higher speeds. Following repairs, the first ''Acela'' service began on December 11, 2000, a year behind schedule. ''Acela'' travels between Boston and New York in about three and a half hours (an improvement of half an hour); New York to Washington runs take a minimum of two hours and forty-five minutes. These schedules, as well as the relative convenience of direct downtown-to-downtown rail service as opposed to air travel, especially after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, have made the ''Acela Express'' more competitive with the air shuttles. Due to this competition, Southwest Airlines canceled service between Washington and New York.


Platform track speeds

Due to the high speed at which ''Acela'' trains bypass platforms of local stations, concerns have mounted in some communities over inadequate warnings and safeguards for passengers waiting for other trains, including that the two-foot wide yellow platform markings may not keep people at a safe distance. At Kingston station in Rhode Island and Mansfield station in Massachusetts, ''Acela'' trains pass by at . Suggestions include platform safety barriers, or use of different announcements for approaching ''Acela'' trains versus slower ones.


Outages

In August 2002, shortly after their introduction, ''Acela'' trainsets were briefly removed from service when the brackets that connected truck ( bogie) dampers (shocks) to the powerunit carbodies ("yaw dampers") were found to be cracking. The ''Acela'' returned to service when a program of frequent inspections was instituted. The damper brackets have since been redesigned and old brackets replaced by the newer design. On April 15, 2005, the ''Acela'' was removed from service when cracks were found in the disc brakes of many passenger coaches. The Bombardier- Alstom consortium replaced the discs under warranty. Limited service resumed in July 2005, as a portion of the fleet operated with new brake discs. '' Metroliner'' trains, which the ''Acela Express'' was intended to replace, filled in during the outage. Amtrak announced on September 21, 2005, that all 20 trainsets had been returned to full operation. In October 2012, ''Acela'' service was cancelled immediately before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy, which damaged the North River Tunnels causing lasting delays and reliability problems. In March 2020, all ''Acela'' trips were suspended as part of a round of service reduction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Amtrak resumed ''Acela'' service on June 1, 2020.


Service


Composition

The production sets are formed as follows: The ''Acela Express'' trainset consists of two power cars, a Café car, a First Class car, and four Business Class cars, semi-permanently coupled together. It has fewer seats than its regional service counterparts. The First Class car has 44 seats, being three seats across (one on one side, two on the other side), four-seat tables and assigned seating. There are 260 Business Class seats on each trainset; these cars have four seats across (two on each side), four-seat tables, and assigned seating. Baggage may be stowed in overhead compartments or underneath seats. Trains are wheelchair-
accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
. Each car has one or two toilets, with one being ADA compliant. The Business Class car adjacent to First Class is designated as a quiet car, where passengers are asked to refrain from loud talking and phone conversations. Automatic sliding doors between cars reduce noise.


Operations and staffing

''Acela'' offers two classes of seating, Business Class and First Class. Unlike most other Amtrak trains, Business Class is the ''de facto'' standard class on ''Acela'' trains; there is no coach service. ''Acela'' maintenance is generally taken care of at the Ivy City facility in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...
; Sunnyside Yard in Queens, New York; or Southampton Street Yard in Boston. The ''Acela'' trainsets underwent minor refurbishments between mid-2009 and 2010 at Penn Coach Yard, next to 30th Street Station in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. These refurbishments included new blue leather seats throughout the trainset. In May 2018, Amtrak announced a 14-month program to refresh the interiors of the ''Acela'' trainsets, including new seat cushions and covers, new aisle carpeting, and a deep clean. This refurbishment program has been completed as of June 2019.


Wi-Fi service

Wireless Internet station service began in 2004. In 2010, with services provided by The GBS Group, all ''Acela'' trains began offering "AmtrakConnect" supporting IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and standard VPN connections. In 2016, Amtrak upgraded to a faster wifi service.


Staffing

Generally, Amtrak train crews consist of an engineer, a conductor, and at least one assistant conductor. ''Acela'' trains also have an On-Board Service crew consisting of two First Class attendants and a Café Car attendant. In addition to the food service provided in the Café Car, on most trains an attendant will also provide at-seat cart service, serving refreshments throughout the train. First Class passengers are served meals at their seats on all services.


Notable incidents

* During the
Northeast blackout of 2003 The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and most parts of the Canadian province of Ontario on Thursday, August 14, 2003, beginning just after 4:10 p.m. ...
, a northbound ''Acela Express'' train was stuck on the Hell Gate Bridge for over nine hours, until a rescue engine from Sunnyside Yard was able to tow the train back to New York's Penn Station. * The first ''Acela'' grade crossing accident occurred on September 27, 2005, when a car rolled under closed crossing gate arms in Waterford, Connecticut and was struck by a train traveling at , killing three automobile passengers. None of the 130 ''Acela'' passengers were injured. The gates were found to have been functioning properly, but the incident drew much criticism regarding the eleven remaining grade crossings along Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor. * On March 24, 2017, an ''Acela Express'' train derailed at low speed in New York's Penn Station, during morning rush hour. All 248 passengers were safely evacuated. The derailment was caused by a defective section of track, of which Amtrak was aware, but had not yet fixed. * On February 6, 2018, ''Acela Express'' train No. 2150 split apart between the first and second cars in the trainset, at , near Havre de Grace, Maryland. There were no injuries of the crew nor the 52 passengers on board, who were transferred to '' Northeast Regional'' train No. 180.


Station stops

A limited number of Acela trains previously stopped at New London before service was eliminated in 2022. During 2021, a limited number of Acela trains stopped at New Rochelle on weekends.


See also

* List of high-speed trains


References


Notes


Further reading

* * *


External links

*
Transit Information – On Track On Line
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