Rails Around the USA:
Summer, 2005

Washington, D.C. to Boston

July 28, 2005

Laurence Krieg

Washington Union Station, 12:03 7/28/2000

All Aborad Acela Express 2164!

Aboard Acela Express number 2164. The doors closed on time, and the train began moving about 30 seconds after scheduled departure time. After clearing the Union Station switch yard, we accelerate smoothely to 119 MPH. In contrast to the groaning of the trucks over the switches, the car is very quiet when running at speed.

Acela accomodations

We've just slowed down to switch from the outside track to one of the inner pair: it was necessary to slow to 99 MPH for that maneuver.

124 or 125 seems to be the speed goal on most of this portion of the route, between Washington and Aberdeen, Maryland. North of Aberdeen, the speed increases to 129. The tilting as we go around curves is quite apparent if you're looking for it; it's fairly smooth and effective, so that most passengers don't seem to notice it. If you listen carefully, you can hear a very slight whine as they raise or lower the car.

Graceful bridges over the Susquehanna River

There's an electronic sign in the car: "Cell phone usage and Loud talking are not". Though the message is cut off, the intent is pretty clear. None the less, the lady in the seat across the aisle has sent and received about five phone calls, and the two business men in the seat in front of me have not ceased talking for more than 10 seconds. In the hour and a quarter between Washington and Wilmington, where they get off, they have not exhausted their main topic: the iniquity of their associates.

13:22

A one-minute stop in Wilmington, credit-card capital of the world. By the time we pass the Wilmington Amtrak shops, we're going a steady 100 MPH.

13:33

Industrial south Philly

South Philly suburbs: speed 100 MPH.

Two-minute stop at Philadelphia 30th Street. Past Zoo Tower. Through eastern Pensylvania at 124 MPH.

Philadephia: Schuylkill river and skyline

Through Trenton Station at 105 MPH; up to 133 to Princeton Jct; then braking hard down to 110 MPH, with smell of hot brakes.

Through Menlo Park at 105 MPH; Thomas Edison would have been proud.

14:27

Through Elizabeth S-curves at 53; threading between two NJ Transit trains in Elizabeth Station.

14:28

Through Newark Airport station at 85, past the airport monorail.

14:40

NJ Transit's finest: an Adtranz ALP 46 (this photo not authorized by NJ Transit!)

We've met our first non-station stop, about 1.5 miles E of Newark Station. The portal bridge is open for water traffic. We're on our way in 3 minutes.

14:54

We've arrived in the bowels of Penn Station, New York. From this car, about 75% of the passengers have gotten off. I'd estimate that the train has been filled to 60-80% capacity.

15:07

We move out 4 minutes late; passengers are still scrambling for seats. Clearly, this is the popular part of the run. We seem to be taking the East River tunnel at a good clip, though of course my GPS can't tell just how fast.

I now have a seat-mate - a willowy 20-something blonde. She gets out her laptop, and I get my extension cord to meet our power needs. Over the course of the journey, I've overheard multiple phone conversations between her and her friends and associates, as well as chatting with her between calls. She works for a German company specializing in high-tech tickets, travels incesantly, and is planning to marry the fellow she lives with. They'll be moving to San Mateo, California, in September, where they'll have two brand-new BMWs waiting for them, which they purchased over the phone with the dealership.

The Acela is a high-speed office. Nearly half the people have laptops, and all of them seem to have cell phones. It's a great place to sample a wide variety of ring-tones.

The north approach to Hell Gate Bridge curves gracefully around this humungous sewage treatment plant

15:17

I sometimes used to wonder why it's called "Hell Gate" bridge. When we got to the north end, I began to get an idea when I saw the immense sewage treatment plant spread out below us.

15:26

15 MPH slow-order for track work through Pelham and New Rochelle.
We have a different crew now. We seem to have traded our African crew for a New England crew. The conductor is asking for tickets and ID from everyone, including passengers whose tickets were already punched. The Washington to New York crew said only that random ID-checks were required.

15:34

Historic urban Connecticut

Airconditioning and power-plugs off.
15:44 Announcement: engineer and conductor will try to get AC back on; the train is almost stopped, creeping toward Stamford, Connecticut, at 3 MPH.
15:46 Speeding up again, but no AC or power.
15:48 Stopped in Stamford station, but not next to a platform. It's noticeably warmer now. Two uniformed Amtrak men, presumably engineer and conductor, move purposefully through the car toward the rear of the train.
15:51 Air and power are back on.
15:53 Back in motion. The conductor explains over the PA that a circuit breaker tripped in the rear power car; it's back up now, "A-OK"

Speeds have been lower since leaving New York City. It's possible we're running in to rush hour commuter traffic, in spite of our five track main. The top speed we've reached so far has been 73 MPH, and there have been lots of speed changes. Just now, we braked hard and are holding to 45 MPH. We've now been switched to an inner track, and are accelerating back up to 73.

18:04

South of Warrick RI, we've hit our fastest speed yet: 146 MPH / 235 km/h . Not for long, though: we're back down around 115 two minutes later.

Arrived in South Station. Time from Washington: 6:01

18:53

We pull into Boston's South Station 8 minutes late.

Acela Reflections

Here are some figures (based on unofficial mileage):

We're so close to the port you could almost hop straight from the Acela to this beautiful motor vessel.

The track through Connecticut is just not designed to get from New York to Boston efficiently. It was clearly designed to serve the towns along the coast, as the route hugs the shore, weaving around each inlet. This is the sort of place where the "shinkansen" concept would have great merit: the Japanese term shinkansen means 'new main line'; the Tokaido main line between Tokyo and Kyoto winds along the eastern coast for much of the way, following a medieval highway, and in the 1950s its capacity was saturated. The "new main line" was built for the famous "bullet trains", a concept that could work very well in heavily populated New England. In spite of the slower speed, the New York to Boston segment was much more heavily patronized. A "new main line" through Hartford and Providence would probably attract considerable business.