Acela & Amtrak NEC (HSR BOS-NYP-WAS and branches only)

I’ve never been an active user on RR.net but in my handful of times lurking, I always wondered how it was that a forum could have so many draconian mods. I don’t mean this in a disparaging way, but is “control freak” a common personality type among career railroaders? I can sort of imagine how if you spend a career following a rule book to the letter, you might apply that way of doing business in other venues (such as your moderator “job”), but on the other hand, the very few railroaders I do know don’t personally fit that bill. Maybe it’s just the culture that organically grew. Whatever the cause, its stifling.
 
riptide said:
I’ve never been an active user on RR.net but in my handful of times lurking, I always wondered how it was that a forum could have so many draconian mods. I don’t mean this in a disparaging way, but is “control freak” a common personality type among career railroaders? I can sort of imagine how if you spend a career following a rule book to the letter, you might apply that way of doing business in other venues (such as your moderator “job”), but on the other hand, the very few railroaders I do know don’t personally fit that bill. Maybe it’s just the culture that organically grew. Whatever the cause, its stifling.
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The site's over 21 years old, and has ALWAYS been a mod police state. It organically grew up that way because the original site admin was a control freak rex who badgered the other mods into following suit. One of the former MBTA forum mods used to post here intermittently, and basically said he was hounded night and day by that admin to 'go hard' at everybody with insane stuff like the infamous "say the 'bus' word = bannination" rule. Eventually he just quit as his conscience wouldn't allow him to treat people like that much shit. The current active MBTA mod (the other co-mod has been M.I.A. for almost 5 years) has always been a raging asshole even when he was just a regular poster, so the role and its ensuing power trip fits like a speedo. Current site owner/lead admin is a much more mellow sort than his predecessor, but the culture was ingrained long before he took power so the place still anachronistically runs high on its former supply. There are over 50 named moderators for its maze of subforums (though a lot of them, like the MBTA co-mod, are inactive) and 3 full-time site admins...which is laughable for a site with traffic that's a shell of its former self. aB gets about as many posts per day as RR.net does, and we are WAY narrower in focus. It *sort of* made sense to take that tact in the late-2000's pre- social media when siloed messageboards were still king because there was an incredibly diverse (especially age-wise...teen to senior citizens) audience of career railroaders, urban/transpo planners (like we have here), historical preservationists, rabid train foamers, and curious/casual users constantly competing for attention and frequently clashing. It was legit rough trying to unite so many competing constituencies under one "railroad talk" roof.

That's not the case anymore. You have social media taking the lion's share out of the news bite, sites like Reddit, etc. catering to the micro-cultures, and a generally aging population that still sticks to old-fashioned messageboards. They never recovered from the late-2010's "purge years" where lots of regular posters (myself included!) were mass-banned for absolute-nothing reasons to reinforce the hegemony of the career railroaders (who were allowed to be as badly-behaved as they wanted to be). It particularly gutted the ranks of the NY/NJ/PA-area subforums that were previously the biggest regional traffic drivers (now it's New England), and chased off almost all of the young posters. The ravages of age have simply taken their toll in the years since, as the average age of active posters there is well north of 60 (and in some cases...70 and 80). With death claiming a lot of the cherished historian ranks, and retirements decimating the railroader insider ranks. What you're left with is a sparse and motley collection of remaining insiders...and a top-heavy mix of very active but not particularly insightful posters repeating the same things over and over again. With the "war on quotes" (which is an admin-sourced dictate, although it's the MBTA mod who takes it to stupidest extremes) diluting the focus further and the lingering mod shennanigans (or...like the anarchous Amtrak subforum...self-deadlocking moderation because the on-duty mods all hate each other more than they like culling the constant rabbit holing) being the lingering cultural skeleton defining the place after the skin has worn away. And it has the worst/most imprecise board search function that I have ever seen, so the same old topics constantly get rehashed (despite the dictates that they be religiously filed in the precise correct thread!) from inability to recall what a previous discussion concluded.

There's still very good stuff to be had there...stuff that can't be found anywhere else on the Internet because of the very particular expertise on display. But it's a site I can get fully caught up on once a week now instead of every day because of how much the quantity and quality has atrophied in the last 8-10 years. Jeff paid good money for the site when he bought it about a decade ago, but I honestly can't figure heads or tails what his overall plan for it is. It's in a steep and possibly terminal traffic decline, but he's still rearranging the deck chairs with constant ineffective fiddling when a cultural reboot and fresh blood is badly needed. aB managed to reverse itself quite nicely out of a similar tailspin with its ownership change of 5 years ago ushering in a different and overall less annoying/better-structured culture here. That's one of the reasons why this site has basically stolen all the good discussion away from the RR.net MBTA sub. It would suck if RR.net ever went dark one day because the whole of the transpo Internet is better off with some of the insight shared there, but I don't miss being an active member there for one day because of all the constant bullshit and drama it entailed. Unfortunately too many once-good posters there feel the same way and have stayed away (forcibly or voluntarily) in droves.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The site's over 21 years old, and has ALWAYS been a mod police state. It organically grew up that way because the original site admin was a control freak rex who badgered the other mods into following suit. One of the former MBTA forum mods used to post here intermittently, and basically said he was hounded night and day by that admin to 'go hard' at everybody with insane stuff like the infamous "say the 'bus' word = bannination" rule. Eventually he just quit as his conscience wouldn't allow him to treat people like that much shit. The current active MBTA mod (the other co-mod has been M.I.A. for almost 5 years) has always been a raging asshole even when he was just a regular poster, so the role and its ensuing power trip fits like a speedo. Current site owner/lead admin is a much more mellow sort than his predecessor, but the culture was ingrained long before he took power so the place still anachronistically runs high on its former supply. There are over 50 named moderators for its maze of subforums (though a lot of them, like the MBTA co-mod, are inactive) and 3 full-time site admins...which is laughable for a site with traffic that's a shell of its former self. aB gets about as many posts per day as RR.net does, and we are WAY narrower in focus. It *sort of* made sense to take that tact in the late-2000's pre- social media when siloed messageboards were still king because there was an incredibly diverse (especially age-wise...teen to senior citizens) audience of career railroaders, urban/transpo planners (like we have here), historical preservationists, rabid train foamers, and curious/casual users constantly competing for attention and frequently clashing. It was legit rough trying to unite so many competing constituencies under one "railroad talk" roof.

That's not the case anymore. You have social media taking the lion's share out of the news bite, sites like Reddit, etc. catering to the micro-cultures, and a generally aging population that still sticks to old-fashioned messageboards. They never recovered from the late-2010's "purge years" where lots of regular posters (myself included!) were mass-banned for absolute-nothing reasons to reinforce the hegemony of the career railroaders (who were allowed to be as badly-behaved as they wanted to be). It particularly gutted the ranks of the NY/NJ/PA-area subforums that were previously the biggest regional traffic drivers (now it's New England), and chased off almost all of the young posters. The ravages of age have simply taken their toll in the years since, as the average age of active posters there is well north of 60 (and in some cases...70 and 80). With death claiming a lot of the cherished historian ranks, and retirements decimating the railroader insider ranks. What you're left with is a sparse and motley collection of remaining insiders...and a top-heavy mix of very active but not particularly insightful posters repeating the same things over and over again. With the "war on quotes" (which is an admin-sourced dictate, although it's the MBTA mod who takes it to stupidest extremes) diluting the focus further and the lingering mod shennanigans (or...like the anarchous Amtrak subforum...self-deadlocking moderation because the on-duty mods all hate each other more than they like culling the constant rabbit holing) being the lingering cultural skeleton defining the place after the skin has worn away. And it has the worst/most imprecise board search function that I have ever seen, so the same old topics constantly get rehashed (despite the dictates that they be religiously filed in the precise correct thread!) from inability to recall what a previous discussion concluded.

There's still very good stuff to be had there...stuff that can't be found anywhere else on the Internet because of the very particular expertise on display. But it's a site I can get fully caught up on once a week now instead of every day because of how much the quantity and quality has atrophied in the last 8-10 years. Jeff paid good money for the site when he bought it about a decade ago, but I honestly can't figure heads or tails what his overall plan for it is. It's in a steep and possibly terminal traffic decline, but he's still rearranging the deck chairs with constant ineffective fiddling when a cultural reboot and fresh blood is badly needed. aB managed to reverse itself quite nicely out of a similar tailspin with its ownership change of 5 years ago ushering in a different and overall less annoying/better-structured culture here. That's one of the reasons why this site has basically stolen all the good discussion away from the RR.net MBTA sub. It would suck if RR.net ever went dark one day because the whole of the transpo Internet is better off with some of the insight shared there, but I don't miss being an active member there for one day because of all the constant bullshit and drama it entailed. Unfortunately too many once-good posters there feel the same way and have stayed away (forcibly or voluntarily) in droves.
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time to write that explanation; that definitely adds up. In terms of appearance and functionality, the site jumped out right away as being a product of an earlier era. So I guess it’s a cautionary tale of how deeply ingrained an unproductive mod culture can become (and how it tough it can be to undo). As my Tagline of Shame suggests, I’m too new of a New Member to have known this forum went through a reboot, but glad to see it apparently worked. There’s a lot of good discussion here.
 
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Took a NER to and back from CT this week. It was about 20 min late to arrive at pickup on the return trip but made up most of the time by Boston. Still, that's a pretty bad delay.

I haven't been on non-Acelas in a while. I have to say that for 2025, the shittiness of the Wifi on board was appalling. Like, this is pretty basic stuff.

The positive? At Rt128 station, the escalators had a sign saying the banisters are run under UV light to kill pathogens, so you can put your hands on them and not get germy. I thought that was pretty cool :)
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Unconfirmed rumors of which Acela schedule slots will debut with the new trains: https://railroad.net/acela-ii-alsto...elivery-acceptance-t168906-2595.html#p1672905.
Click to expand...
Awesome! It looks like the app and desktop website are noting which are “nextgen” trains. Sample booking for October as an example - the train number aligns with the rumored slots you shared.
IMG_9336.jpeg
 
Amtrak has awarded D-B contracts for expansion and renovation of yard facilities along the NEC in Boston, NYC and DC - the render and snippet for the expansion of Southampton Yard below.
1000041154.png

An SPS New England-Railroad Construction Company (RCC) Joint Venture will design and construct a new maintenance facility and renovate existing facilities to support Northeast Regional, Acela, and Long Distance trains that operate out of this yard, connecting with cities such as Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Richmond.

Improvements Include:

Construction of a new two-track Maintenance & Inspection facility
Renovation of the existing two-track regional Service and Inspection facility into a two-track Service & Cleaning facility
Timeline: Work will be conducted in phases, with full project completion expected in 2029.
Click to expand...
media.amtrak.com

Amtrak Advances Three Major East Coast Rail Yard Modernization Projects - Amtrak Media

New and upgraded facilities in Boston, New York, and DC will support modern, state-of-the-art Airo and NextGen Acela trains.
media.amtrak.com media.amtrak.com
 
I just wanted to comment that Amtrak is not handling the Acela NextGen transition terribly well (or at least not very efficiently).

I have tickets for Acela round-trip travel to NYC for around the winter holidays. I have received three (3) separate ticket updates in the past week involving:
1) a 10 minute schedule change (longer travel time)
2) NextGen equipment change seat assignment change on one trip
3) a one minute schedule change

I fully anticipate an additional NextGen equipment change before travel.

For travel so far in the future one might consider bundling the changes before pushing them out to customers.
 
I didn't have "Trump administration tries to take over South Station" on my 2025 bingo card.
www.bostonglobe.com

As new Acela rolls into Boston, Trump official hints at federal takeover of South Station to address crime, cleanliness - The Boston Globe

"People up and down the Northeast corridor and Americans who travel on these trains, they need and deserve beautiful rail facilities,” the Deputy Director of Transportation Steven Bradbury said.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
The mood was celebratory on Platform 9 at South Station as Amtrak debuted its sleek, futuristic Acela in Boston Wednesday night. But amid the cheery marching band music and the free Amtrak swag, an official from the Trump administration hinted that Boston’s South Station may be facing a federal takeover similar to what is now happening at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station.
In his remarks to the crowd, Deputy Director of Transportation Steven Bradbury said that now that the administration has laid out plans to take over Union Station, it is looking at taking over other stations along the East Coast.
“Here in South Boston, we need to address the cleanliness, the crime, the safety, and security of the station for the rail workers, for the passengers, because the people of Boston deserve that,” Bradbury said. “All the people up and down the Northeast corridor and Americans who travel on these trains, they need and deserve beautiful rail facilities.”
[...]
A plan to take over South Station may prove more challenging to the administration than that of Union Station. While Union Station is owned by the Department of Transportation, with daily operations run by Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, the MBTA runs and oversees South Station.
Click to expand...
 
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themissinglink said:
I didn't have "Trump administration tries to take over South Station" on my 2025 bingo card.
www.bostonglobe.com

As new Acela rolls into Boston, Trump official hints at federal takeover of South Station to address crime, cleanliness - The Boston Globe

"People up and down the Northeast corridor and Americans who travel on these trains, they need and deserve beautiful rail facilities,” the Deputy Director of Transportation Steven Bradbury said.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Click to expand...
Holy shit, will this guy just fuck off
 
“Here in South Boston, we need to address the cleanliness, the crime, the safety, and security of the station for the rail workers, for the passengers, because the people of Boston deserve that,” Bradbury said.

A gaffe is when you accidentally tell the truth. I think we found who this guy is actually speaking to, and it isn't the Acela riders!
 
themissinglink said:
I didn't have "Trump administration tries to take over South Station" on my 2025 bingo card.
www.bostonglobe.com

As new Acela rolls into Boston, Trump official hints at federal takeover of South Station to address crime, cleanliness - The Boston Globe

"People up and down the Northeast corridor and Americans who travel on these trains, they need and deserve beautiful rail facilities,” the Deputy Director of Transportation Steven Bradbury said.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Click to expand...
I have no idea why the Globe reported that as if it could happen. South Station belongs to MassDOT. There is no mechanism by which USDOT could simply claim it - it would be theft and is unconstitutional (yes, Trump is doing lots of unconstitutional things, but again there is no mechanism by which USDOT could seize control of state property).

Union Station in DC is very different - it has always belonged to USDOT and Amtrak took over operations only last year. Trump simply canceled that agreement between two Federal entities.
 
Equilibria said:
I have no idea why the Globe reported that as if it could happen. South Station belongs to MassDOT.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the headline and most of the article is very misleading about this. The closest the Globe gets to this rather important point, is a mention that the MBTA runs it, without quite saying why that is the case.
 
HenryAlan said:
Yeah, the headline and most of the article is very misleading about this. The closest the Globe gets to this rather important point, is a mention that the MBTA runs it, without quite saying why that is the case.
Click to expand...
Their follow up: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/28/metro/trump-administration-south-station-response/

This is some piss-poor journalism right here. First, the headline and lede pretend this is a question, when it is not (some real NYT Pitchbot material). Then it claims that "Since South Station is owned by a local agency, it is not entirely clear what legal authority the federal government would have to take control." NOT ENTIRELY CLEAR?! It's perfectly clear. There is total clarity. Then we finally get a (very good) quote from Mayor Wu, but... um... why did you even ask her? Mayor Wu doesn't own the station either! The article doesn't actually name the "local agency" (they have since rectified this), who the author could have identified on Wikipedia, nor do they seem to have sought any comment from Secretary Tibbits-Nutt or anyone else from MassDOT. Finally this gem:

"This is a developing story..."

No it is not. There is no story here. This cannot legally or realistically happen. We're sliding into fascism in large part because the media keeps letting these people shift the discourse by claiming authority they don't have, because they know the reporters are too lazy to check Wikipedia.

Incidentally, when I checked Wikipedia again just now, I was reminded that the name of the station is still legally "The Michael Dukakis Transportation Center". This was done by the Legislature and signed by the Governor, because the station is Massachusetts state property.
 
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I spent the $53 on a ticket between BOS and PVD (I usually take the CR or the NER if the price is competitive with the CR) next Tuesday because I'm a nerd and I geek out over the stuff. I'm more excited than I should be.

RE: South Station. I know the feds don't have the same level of authority there as they do at DC Union, but don't Amtrak Police still have jurisdiction since it's an Amtrak station? While it wouldn't be a "takeover" because they couldn't seize control of operations, couldn't they deploy additional police and make a visible show of playing "tough" with the homeless in the area? I feel like that's the type of PR stunt this administration would pull just to make a point.
 
Lrfox said:
I spent the $53 on a ticket between BOS and PVD (I usually take the CR or the NER if the price is competitive with the CR) next Tuesday because I'm a nerd and I geek out over the stuff. I'm more excited than I should be.

RE: South Station. I know the feds don't have the same level of authority there as they do at DC Union, but don't Amtrak Police still have jurisdiction since it's an Amtrak station? While it wouldn't be a "takeover" because they couldn't seize control of operations, couldn't they deploy additional police and make a visible show of playing "tough" with the homeless in the area? I feel like that's the type of PR stunt this administration would pull just to make a point.
Click to expand...
I believe The T Police have jurisdiction in the station but there is an Amtrak presence there for the trains
 
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