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

JeffDowntown said:
I am travelling on Acela from NYP to BOS on March 31. I just got a "change of seat configuration" notice from Amtrak -- on airlines this means change of equipment!

I believe that means Acela II is moving into service by then! :love:
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I thought this might be a story, so I reached out to Amtrak's press office to see if it was true.

Unfortunately, they told me that this is *not* because the new trainsets are starting operations:
"As of March 24, 2025, all Acela trains will be transitioning to permanent fixed and backward seating in preparation for the introduction of NextGen Acela trainsets later this Spring. This seating arrangement reduces maintenance time between trips and already exists on several trains across the National Network and Northeast Corridor, including the Northeast Regional and Keystone Service. All Acela customers have the option to change their assigned seat (subject to availability) in advance of their travel via Amtrak.com or the Amtrak app."
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So I won't be doing a story on this after all – but thought y'all would appreciate this update.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I am travelling on Acela from NYP to BOS on March 31. I just got a "change of seat configuration" notice from Amtrak -- on airlines this means change of equipment!

I believe that means Acela II is moving into service by then! :love:
Click to expand...
Omfg bro happiest news of 2025 so far!!
 
Nothing new in this video (if anything, it's probably outdated now) but Fred really doesn't pull any punches about his feeling towards American infrastructure.

 
I'm curious about the new seat pattern. As I remember, when the seats are turned to face the middle of the coach, the seats in the center that would face each other are very close together, leaving little leg space and no tables. Did they move the tables to the center of the coach instead of at the ends?
 
BostonBoy said:
I'm curious about the new seat pattern. As I remember, when the seats are turned to face the middle of the coach, the seats in the center that would face each other are very close together, leaving little leg space and no tables. Did they move the tables to the center of the coach instead of at the ends?
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I just rode on Acela yesterday. The configuration had a set of facing seats (and table) at each end of the car. In the middle, there was a row of back to back seats, and the forward facing were from there to the front of the car.

Also worth noting -- the new trains can't come soon enough. The seat I was in wobbled and rocked the entire way from New York to Boston.
 

Metro-North Is Faster Than Acela on NYC-New Haven Route After Signal Updates​

Connecticut residents commuting to New York City are getting faster train service after the Metro-North Railroad modernized signal systems, helping to cut travel times by 10 minutes on some trains.
[...]
The faster service, which started Sunday, means that some Metro-North trains are beating Amtrak’s Acela by three minutes between New Haven and New York City, according to Justin Vonashek, president of Metro-North.
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Stlin said:
Out of curiosity, is it know what is stopping Amtrak from taking advantage of the same signal improvements? A stopping service really shouldn't be beating Acelas or even Regionals.
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Old trains not worth upgrading since we are months away from Acela II?
 
Stlin said:
Out of curiosity, is it know what is stopping Amtrak from taking advantage of the same signal improvements? A stopping service really shouldn't be beating Acelas or even Regionals.
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My somewhat baseless guess is that it might also be a dispatching issue. Since Metro-North controls dispatching on the ROW, one can imagine Amtrak getting the short end of the stick whenever something screws up, thus affecting runtimes and meaning Amtrak needs to pad the schedules more than Metro-North does.
 
The Avelia Liberty is finally debuting in May! (edit: it was changed back to "Spring" from "May")
IMG_0682.jpeg
 
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The distance from New Rochelle to Penn Station is 5 miles longer than the distance between New Rochelle and Grand central. That's worth the extra time seeing that Acela Express trains would not have superiority over the host railroad's trains, especially a "hot" one that the Governor is equally hot about.
 
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Stlin said:
Out of curiosity, is it know what is stopping Amtrak from taking advantage of the same signal improvements? A stopping service really shouldn't be beating Acelas or even Regionals.
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I think @Teban54 is right that this is a problem with Metro North controlling the track. Here's an interesting post on some of the problems on the line: bad timetabling practices, bad maintenance practices, massive time padding. The new signaling system might be good, but they don't help Acelas if the Acelas still get stuck behind local trains.

From that article, it sounds like MTA is bragging that Metro North is faster than Amtrak. Really, it should be a giant red flag that the MTA can't manage their tracks to allow for decent express/intercity rail.
 
ritchiew said:
I think @Teban54 is right that this is a problem with Metro North controlling the track. Here's an interesting post on some of the problems on the line: bad timetabling practices, bad maintenance practices, massive time padding. The new signaling system might be good, but they don't help Acelas if the Acelas still get stuck behind local trains.

From that article, it sounds like MTA is bragging that Metro North is faster than Amtrak. Really, it should be a giant red flag that the MTA can't manage their tracks to allow for decent express/intercity rail.
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Metro North always gave their trains priority over Amtrak; especially when the Acelas were introduced. Amtrak essentially doubled their frequencies with the Acela introduction at the same time Metro North was making significant expansion of their own schedules. This all took place in the middle of the upgrade of the catenary system to constant tension wire. There was always a track out of service over significant portions of Metro North at the time. I still remember waiting many minutes at Stamford for our scheduled departure time when working an Acela on the weekend, when there were fewer Local trains to deal with . It has been a decade since I left Amtrak but now I believe that Metro North will have track outages due to the re-construction of their movable bridge. It never ends .
 
Metro North always gave their trains priority over Amtrak
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My anecdotal observation is that this is still true. It still seems to be a frequent occurrence that my Acela is held in favor of a Metro North train, regardless of whether we're on time or not. The magnitude of the impact doesn't seem to be too large though.

now I believe that Metro North will have track outages due to the re-construction of their movable bridge
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My additional anecdotal evidence is that, Norwalk Bridge work notwithstanding, there are far fewer track outages than 10 years ago. It seemed at the time like only three tracks were in service for a big chunk of the property. Now we have delays due to only 2 tracks in service west of Norwalk, but I haven't experienced much more than a few minutes' delay due to that on any one trip. Bigger factors recently have been things literally on fire in Boston or a signal outage or two east of Stamford.
 
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