Acela Express

Acela Express
Amtrak Acela Express train, led by power car #2009, at Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Overview
Service type	Inter-city, high speed tilting train
Status	Operating
Locale	Northeastern United States
First service	December 11, 2000 (2000-12-11)
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Average ridership	8,818 (per day in 2010) 3,218,718 (total in 2010)
Route
Start	Boston, MA
No. of intermediate stops	14
End	Washington, DC
Distance travelled	456 mi (734 km)
Average journey time	7 hours
Service frequency	20 per day
Train number(s)	2100–2297
On-board services
Class(es)	Business and first class
Disabled access	Fully accessible
Seating arrangements	Airline-style coach seating
Catering facilities	On-board café, and at-seat meals in first class
Baggage facilities	Checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	150 mph (240 km/h) maximum 70 mph (110 km/h) average, including stops
Route map

The Acela Express (pron.: /əˈsɛlə/ ə-SEL-ə; colloquially abbreviated to Acela) is Amtrak's high-speed rail service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeast United States between Washington, D.C., and Boston via Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City.

Acela Express trains are the only true high-speed trainsets in North America; the highest speed they attain is 150 mph (240 km/h), though their average is less than half that speed. The Acela has become popular with business travelers, and by some reckoning has captured over half of the market share of air or train travelers between Washington and New York. Between New York and Boston the Acela Express has up to a 54% share of the combined train and air market.

Acela trains use tilting technology which allows the train to travel at higher speeds on the sharply curved NEC without disturbing passengers, by lowering lateral centrifugal forces.

The Acela carried just under 3.4 million passengers in fiscal year 2012; second only to the somewhat slower Northeast Regional, which had over 8 million riders in FY 2012 In 2012, the Acela Express had a total revenue of US$508,080,295, up from $409,251,483 in 2009 and accounting for approximately 25% of all total revenue generated by Amtrak services (another 25% coming from Northeast regional traffic and 25% each for long-haul traffic and regional services throughout the rest of the country.

Origins and history

Background

Following the success of high-speed rail in other countries, High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 authorized the U.S. government to explore the creation of high-speed rail in the U.S. which resulted in the introduction Metroliner trains, the predecessor to Acela. During the 1980s the US Federal Railroad Administration explored the possibilities of high-speed rail in the United States and on December 18, 1991 a range of five high speed rail corridors were authorized ("Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) (PL 102-240)") including the Northeast Corridor. During October 1992 another five corridors were announced individually. During 1993, the US government under Bill Clinton discussed a $1 billion funding program to drive the development of a 2000-mile high-speed rail network.^{[citation needed]}

Amtrak started to ask railway equipment manufacturers for implementation options. An X 2000 train was leased from Sweden for test runs from October 1992 to January 1993. It was operated from Washington DC to New York City from February to May and August to September 1993. Siemens showed the ICE 1 train, organizing the ICE Train North America Tour which started to operate on the Northeast Corridor on July 3, 1993. This testing allowed Amtrak to define a specification that went into a public tender by Amtrak in October 1994.

Development

Northbound Acela on the Northeast Corridor south of Philadelphia

On March 9, 1999 Amtrak unveiled its plan for a high-speed train, the Acela Express. Twenty new trains were to run on the Northeast Corridor. Several changes were made to the corridor to make it suitable for the trains' operation. It was necessary to provide electrification from New Haven to Boston to complete the overhead power supply along the 454-mile route, and several grade crossings were upgraded or removed.

In October 1994 Amtrak requested bids from train manufacturers for a trainset that could reach 150 miles per hour (240 km/h). A joint project of Bombardier (75%) and GEC Alsthom (now Alstom) (25%) was selected in March 1996. There was a disagreement between Amtrak and the manufacturing consortium over costs and maintenance bills; this was not settled until March 2004. Development was not interrupted, and an inaugural VIP run of the Acela came on November 17, 2000 followed by the first revenue run on December 11, a few months past the intended date.

The Acela service is considered a success; 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 and more modern Acela Express, the Metroliner service was phased out; the last operated on October 27, 2006. Due to the level of popularity experienced, more Acela Express services were added in September 2005, and more trains may be purchased in order to run additional simultaneous services. By August 2008 crowding had become noticeable on board. In 2011, Amtrak announced that forty new Acela coaches are to be ordered in 2012 to increase capacity on existing trains, each of the existing trains would receive two more coaches. The additional coaches will lengthen the train sets from a 1-6-1 configuration to a 1-8-1 configuration (power car - passenger car - power car), the additions would also require the modifications of the Acela maintenance facilities in Boston, New York and Washington. The first modified train sets would enter service Fiscal year 2014. Amtrak's ridership share has continued to climb and now is 75% of the New York-Washington market in 2012.

As of 2011, the Acela fleet has reached half of its designed service life. Amtrak has proposed several replacement options, including a proposal entitled A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor.

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.

Criticism

Despite billions of dollars in investment Acela Express's fastest schedule between New York and Washington, D.C. was 2 hours and 45 minutes in 2012. $450 million was allotted by President Barack Obama's administration to replace catenary and upgrade signals between Trenton and New Brunswick, which will allow speeds of 160 mph (257 km/h) for twenty miles sometime after 2016; 170 mph (270 km/h) was reached on this track on December 20, 1967 by the U.S.-built UAC TurboTrain

A focus on top speeds may be misplaced since the Acela speeds have most greatly been affected by restrictions in slower sections, i.e., below 60–80 mph (100–130 km/h). These stretches are frequently over older bridges, which require reduced speeds.

Branding

An Acela Regional train at BWI Rail Station in 2002

The Acela name was announced on March 9, 1999, as a part of the original announcement of the service itself. This was originally intended as a rebranding of most of Amtrak's Northeast services, forming three levels: Acela Express, Acela Regional, and Acela Commuter. The branding team based the name "Acela" on the ideas of acceleration and excellence.

There were then three classes of trains on the Northeast Corridor (and its extension south to Newport News, Virginia)— Philadelphia-New York Clockers, the express Metroliners, and the umbrella term NortheastDirect, applied to other trains on the corridor (in addition to unique names assigned to each departure). Empire Service trains used the Empire Corridor from New York City to Niagara Falls, and Keystone Service ran along the Keystone Corridor from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. Other named trains also used the corridors, branching off or continuing beyond their stations.

The original plan included renaming the Empire, Keystone, and NortheastDirect services to Acela Regional, while the Metroliners would be replaced with the new Acela Express service.^{[citation needed]} However, the Empire and Keystone services retained their names.

The Acela Regional name was first applied to NortheastDirect trains 130–133 on January 31, 2000. Those trains, 130 and 131 running weekdays only and 132 and 133 running every day, were the first electrified trains to run on the full Northeast Corridor. As more trains were electrified, they too were rebranded. In 2003, due to confusion between the lower-speed Acela Regional trains and the Acela Express, the Acela branding was removed from the NortheastDirect service (now the Northeast Regional) and the Acela Commuter had its name changed back to the Clocker for a similar reason and ultimately discontinued on October 28, 2005.

Engineering

Acela Express
Business Class interior
Manufacturer	Bombardier, Alstom
Constructed	1998-2001
Entered service	2000
Number built	20 trainsets
Number in service	20 trainsets
Formation	8 cars (2 x power car; 6 x passenger car)
Fleet numbers	2000-2039 (power cars)
Capacity	304 (44 first class; 260 business class)
Operator	Amtrak
Depot(s)	Ivy City, Washington DC Sunnyside Yard, New York City Southampton Street Yard, Boston
Line(s) served	Northeast Corridor
Specifications
Car length	69 feet 7 inches (21.21 m) (Power car)
Width	10 feet 5 inches (3.18 m)
Wheel diameter	40 inches (1,000 mm)
Maximum speed	165 mph (266 km/h) (150 mph or 240 km/h max operating speed)
Power output	4,600 kW (6,200 hp)
Tractive effort	225 kN (51,000 lbf) (Starting)
Power supply	2850 V DC (PWM Rectified) Voltage Regulated from mains re-inverted to three-phase, frequency and voltage controlled AC waveform.
Electric system(s)	Catenary 25 kV 60 Hz AC, 12 kV 60 Hz AC, 12 kV 25 Hz AC
Current collection method	Pantograph, 2 per power car
Safety system(s)	Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Train design

Overhead view of an Acela power car; a Boston MBTA Orange Line train is also visible.

The Acela trainset is a unique train designed specifically to satisfy very specific U.S. governmental rolling stock requirements, including a requirement to be able to collide with a freight train at speed without collapsing, which in turn requires the passenger cars to be built with massive amounts of extra steel and weight. These requirements are significantly different from anywhere else in the world, including countries that have a highly functional high speed rail network that use modern signalling and computer controls to emphasize crash prevention. Most manufacturers who bid on the Acela were unable to meet these requirements, bringing up cost and complication for the manufacture of the trains, and requiring manufacturers to make significant engineering changes to its standard designs. In the end, only three qualified bidders remained: ABB (Swedish 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). These specifications are not a result of specific Northeast Corridor track conditions.

Although the design of the trains, with identical 6,000 horsepower (4,470 kW) power cars at each end which operate on a voltage of 11,000 volts AC, and either 25 or 60 Hz frequency, resemble France's TGV, only certain components are directly derived from the TGV. These TGV-derived components are the traction system derived from third-generation TGV trainsets (including the four asynchronous AC motors per power car, rectifiers, inverters, and regenerative braking technology), the structure of the trucks/bogies (with 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 the crash energy management techniques to control structural deformations 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, and the locomotives and passenger cars are much heavier than those of the TGV in order to meet the United States Federal Railroad Administration's different approach to rail crash standards. 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 Express's carriage design and a diesel/gas turbine variant of the power car for its experimental JetTrain.

Operating speeds

With a top speed of 150 mph (241 km/h) the Acela Express is the only service in North America that exceeds the U.S. Department of Transportation's 125 mph (201 km/h) definition of high speed rail.

Acela Express and Metro-North commuter trains share the same tracks through Connecticut.

The Acela achieves an average speed (including stops) of 81.7 mph (131 km/h) between Washington and New York, and an average speed of 66.9 mph (108 km/h) from Washington to Boston. The average speed from New York to Boston is a slightly faster 69.8 mph (112 km/h). Its maximum speed is 150 mph (241 km/h) on two sections of track totaling 28 miles in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Amtrak has also been upgrading their track along the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven to allow maximum speeds in excess of 110 mph (177 km/h). West of New York City, Acela Express's top speed is 135 mph (217 km/h). The limiting factor is stated to be the overhead catenary support system which was constructed prior to 1935 and lacks the constant-tension features of the new catenary east of New Haven. The Pennsylvania Railroad, however, did run Metroliner test trains in the late 1960's as fast as 164 mph (264 km/h) and briefly intended to run the Metroliner service at speeds reaching 150 mph (241 km/h). The Acela Express trainsets are capable of 165 mph (266 km/h) operation, but the FRA regulations do not permit any speeds above 150 mph (241 km/h) on tracks that are shared with freight and slower passenger trains. Testing for certification for commercial operation at 160 mph (257 km/h) involving test runs at up to 165 mph (266 km/h) began between Trenton, NJ and New Brunswick, NJ in September 2012.

The slowest section of the electrified NEC is the portion owned by Metro-North Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation between New Haven, Connecticut and New Rochelle, New York. Trains here achieve 90 mph (145 km/h) only on a limited 4-mile (6.4 km) stretch in New York State and rarely exceed 60 mph (97 km/h) at any time through Connecticut until reaching New Haven. Ironically much of this track runs parallel to the highway so Acela passengers can see automobile traffic passing by often at 70 mph (113 km/h). Additionally, tilting is not allowed anywhere on that property. At a maximum 4.2° tilt, the Acela Express trainset would pass other trains on parallel tracks only 10 inches (25 cm) away, which is too close for FRA-mandated clearances. As of 1992, ConnDOT has a number of projects underway to upgrade the catenary system, replace outdated bridges, and straighten certain sections of the New Haven Line to enable the Acela to cover the distance little faster, but at present there is no plan to run at their 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) top speed in this segment. Just averaging just 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) or 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) in this section would be a dramatic improvement and would require no tilting or special overhead wires.

On July 9, 2007, Amtrak introduced two limited-stop trains. Train 2105 left New York Penn Station at 6:50 a.m, made only one stop, in Philadelphia, and arrived in Washington, D.C. at 9:25 am Northbound, train 2120 departed Washington, D.C. at 3:55 pm, stopped in Philadelphia, and arrived in New York City at 6:30 pm. This shortened the trip between the two cities to just 2 hours 35 minutes, making the trip roughly an hour faster than some of the Northeast Regional train services. These trains were an experiment on Amtrak's part to find ways to expedite travel time on the Acela. Amtrak has since dropped these two limited-stop trains.

High speed

An Acela Express train at BWI Airport Rail Station.

Warning sign at the Kingston Station in Rhode Island, a two-track station within one of the Acela's 150 mph (241 km/h) zones

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 New York City, also home to the nation's busiest rail passenger station, Penn Station.

In order to compete with airliners, Amtrak needed to increase the speed of trains in the region. However, the former Shore Line, from New Haven to Boston, is burdened by sharp turns and grade crossings, the crossings being especially of concern in regard to high-speed rail.

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 tilt above 60 mph (97 km/h) on most of the system, but some segments of track in the Northeast Corridor are too close together for the carriages to safely tilt while maintaining FRA minimum space between trains on parallel tracks. Furthermore, Metro-North Railroad restricts tilting on the segment of track north of New York owned by them. While the system was originally designed for a 6.8° tilt, the cars were redesigned 4 in (10 cm) wider to accommodate wider seats and aisles that reduced allowable tilt to a more modest 4.2° to fit within the clearance constraints of the existing tracks. Traveling at higher than 135 mph (217 km/h) 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 135 mph (217 km/h). By comparison, Northeast Regional and the defunct Metroliner service reach 125 mph (201 km/h). Acela trainsets can achieve 165 mph (266 km/h) but are restricted to 150 mph (241 km/h) due to track conditions, other traffic, FRA regulations, and other factors.

Acela Express
Legend Boston South Station Boston Back Bay Route 128 MA/RI border Providence RI/CT border New London New Haven Stamford CT/NY border New York City North River Tunnels(NY/NJ border) Newark Penn Station Metropark Trenton NJ/PA border Philadelphia PA/DE border Wilmington DE/MD border Baltimore BWI Marshall Airport MD/DC border Washington

Acela service was originally expected in late 1999, but various problems appeared. The catenary system was not able to support the speeds originally intended between Washington, D.C., and New York City, but the more modern system between New York City and Boston allows the higher speeds. A brief political controversy drew attention to the decreased 4.2° tilt, but this was not to be 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 that allows the high speeds. After a series of delays and repairs, the first Acela Express service began on December 11, 2000, a year behind schedule.

With the completion of electrification between New Haven and Boston, all trains on the line have become faster partly because of the removal of a 10 minute delay in New Haven while swapping diesel and electric locomotives, partly from a faster acceleration away from station stops enabled by electric locomotives and partly because of the faster speed achieved on some sections of track. 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 two hours and forty-five minutes. These schedules, as well as the relative convenience of rail as opposed to air travel especially after September 11, 2001, and direct downtown-to-downtown service have made the Acela Express more competitive with the air shuttles.

Service

Composition

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. The train has fewer seats than regional service counterparts. The first class car has 44 seats. First class has three seats across (one on one side, two on the other side) and four seat tables. There are 260 business class seats on each trainset. The car adjacent to first class is designated as the quiet car, where passengers are asked to refrain from loud talking and mobile phone conversations. Business class cars have four seats across (two on each side) and four-seat tables.

Automatic sliding doors provide access between cars throughout the length of the train and reduce noise. Baggage may be stowed in overhead luggage compartments, or underneath the passenger's seat. Reservations guarantee seating but seats themselves are not assigned. Acela trains are also wheelchair-accessible.

Staffing and operation

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 Cafe Car attendant. In addition to the food service provided in the Cafe 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.

At Amtrak, the On-Board Service crew is considered separate and subordinate to the Train and Engine crews. Acela maintenance is generally taken care of at the Ivy City facility in Washington, DC; Sunnyside Yard in Queens, New York; or Southampton Street Yard in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Acela trainsets underwent minor refurbishments between mid-2009 and 2010 at Penn Coach Yard, next to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These refurbishments included new blue leather seats throughout the trainset, and Cafe Cars remodeled with more seating than the previous configuration allowed.^{[citation needed]}

Wi-Fi service

Wireless Internet station service began in 2004, originally through AT&T Wireless. In March 2007, Amtrak's vice president for marketing and product management announced that the Northeast Corridor would soon get wireless Internet service. On October 29, 2009, Amtrak announced that it would begin deploying Wi-Fi on the Acela line with access being free, for the time being, then possibly roll Wi-Fi out to other Amtrak trains in its five-year plan. GBS Group was selected to design the network and Nomad Digital to supply the hardware for the new Wi-Fi service branded as AmtrakConnect. On March 1, 2010, Amtrak deployed AmtrakConnect on all 20 Acela trains. AmtrakConnect (SSID AmtrakConnectAcela) supports 802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and supports the use of standard VPN connections.

Outages

Acela Express in snow passing Ruggles Station in Boston

2002

In August 2002, shortly after their introduction, Acela Express 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 trains were returned to service when a program of frequent inspections was instituted. The damper brackets have since been redesigned and the old brackets replaced with the newer design.

2005

On April 15, 2005, Acela Express trains were again removed from service when cracks were found in the disc brakes of most of the 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.

2008

The Acela Express between New York and Boston was taken offline June 16–19, 2008, when Amtrak replaced the drawbridge span of the 90-year-old Thames River Bridge with a new vertical lift span to improve the reliability of the bridge, reduce the chance of operational failures, and minimize train delays. The outage was extended by two days due to complications with the removal of the bridge's counterweight.

Incidents

2005

On September 28, 2005, a southbound train became the first Acela Express to be involved in a collision at a grade crossing when it struck a car at Miner Lane in Waterford, Connecticut, one of the few remaining grade crossings on the Northeast Corridor. The train was approaching the crossing at approximately 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) when the car reportedly rolled under the crossing gate arms at a low speed and was struck by the train and dragged 1,000 feet (300 m). The driver, a 62-year-old woman, and her 8-year-old grandson, were killed instantly; a 4-year-old girl survived and was airlifted to a hospital where she died nine days later. The gates were later inspected and declared to have been functioning properly at the time of the incident. The incident drew much criticism from the public about the 11 remaining grade crossings along Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor

Station stops

State	Town/City	Station	Connections
Massachusetts	Boston	South Station	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited, Northeast Regional MBTA Commuter Rail: Fairmount Line, Framingham/Worcester Line, Franklin Line, Needham Line, Old Colony Lines, Providence/Stoughton Line MBTA Bus Lines: 4, 6, 7, 11, 448, 449, 459 MBTA Subway Lines: Red Line, Silver Line (Waterfront) Intercity Buses: Greyhound Bus Lines, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Concord Coach Lines, Dartmouth Coach.
		Back Bay	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited, Northeast Regional MBTA Commuter Rail: Framingham/Worcester Line, Franklin Line, Needham Line, Providence/Stoughton Line MBTA Bus Lines: 10, 39, 170 MBTA Subway Lines: Orange Line
	Westwood	Route 128	Amtrak: Northeast Regional MBTA Commuter Rail: Providence/Stoughton Line
Rhode Island	Providence	Providence	Amtrak: Northeast Regional MBTA Commuter Rail: Providence/Stoughton Line RIPTA Buses: 50, 55, 56, 57
Connecticut	New London	New London	Amtrak: Northeast Regional ConnDOT: Shore Line East
	New Haven	New Haven-Union Station	Amtrak: Northeast Regional, Shuttle, Vermonter Metro-North Railroad: New Haven Line ConnDOT: Shore Line East CT Transit New Haven: J, Commuter Connection Downtown and Sargent Drive, Temple Street Garage Shuttle Intercity Buses: Greyhound Bus Lines, Peter Pan Bus Lines
	Stamford	Stamford	Amtrak: Northeast Regional, Vermonter Metro-North Railroad: New Haven Line ConnDOT: Shore Line East CT Transit Stamford: 11, 13, 14, 21, 22, 24, 31, 32, 33, 34, 41, 42, 43, 44, Commuter Connection Central, Commuter Connection-North, Commuter Connection Route 1 – East, Commuter Connection Bulls Head, I-Bus
New York	New York City	Penn Station	Amtrak: Adirondack, Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Empire Service, Ethan Allen Express, Keystone Service, Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter LIRR: Main Line, Port Washington Branch NJ Transit: North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Gladstone Branch, Montclair-Boonton Line, Morristown Line NYC Subway: 1 2 3 A C E trains NYC Transit buses: M4, M7, M20, M34 / M34A Select Bus Service, Q32
New Jersey	Newark	Newark Penn Station	Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Keystone Service, Pennsylvanian, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter NJ Transit: Newark City Subway, Newark Light Rail, North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Raritan Valley Line, 1, 5, 11, 21, 25, 28, 29, 34, 39, 40, 62, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 108, 308, 319, 361, 375, 378 PATH: NWK-WTC
	Iselin	Metropark	Amtrak: Keystone Service, Northeast Regional, Vermonter NJ Transit: Northeast Corridor LineM 801, 802, 803, 804, 805
	Trenton	Trenton Rail Station	Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Keystone Service, Pennsylvanian, Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Northeast Regional, Vermonter NJ Transit: Northeast Corridor Line, River Line, 409, 418, 600, 601, 604, 606, 608, 609, 611, 619 SEPTA Regional Rail: Trenton Line SEPTA Suburban Transit Division: 127
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	30th Street Station	Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Keystone Service, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter NJ Transit: Atlantic City Line SEPTA City Transit Division: Market-Frankford Line, Route 10, Route 11, Route 13, Route 34, Route 36, 9, 30, 31, 44, 62, 78, 124, 125, 316 SEPTA Regional Rail: Airport Line, Warminster Line, Wilmington/Newark Line, West Trenton Line, Media/Elwyn Line, Lansdale/Doylestown Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Manayunk/Norristown Line, Cynwyd Line, Trenton Line, Chestnut Hill East Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Fox Chase Line
Delaware	Wilmington	Wilmington Station	Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Palmetto, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter DART First State: 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 28, 32, 301 SEPTA Regional Rail: Wilmington/Newark Line
Maryland	Baltimore	Baltimore Penn Station	Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Palmetto, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter MARC Train: Penn Line MTA Maryland: Light Rail, 3, 11, 61, 64
		BWI Rail Station	Amtrak: Northeast Regional, Vermonter MARC Train: Penn Line MTA Maryland: 17, 201
District of Columbia	Washington	Washington Union Station	Amtrak: Capitol Limited, Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Palmetto, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter, Thruway Motorcoach to Charlottesville, Virginia MARC Train: Brunswick Line, Camden Line, Penn Line VRE: Manassas Line, Fredericksburg Line Metro: Red Line Metrobus: D3, D6, D8, X1, X2, X8, X9, 80, 96, 97 DC Circulator: Georgetown, Navy Yard MTA Maryland: 903, 922 Loudoun County Transit: Loudoun County PRTC: Dale City

Appearances on train simulators

The Acela Express is included in the PC simulation game Microsoft Train Simulator. It is also a purchasable add-on for Train Simulator 2013, originally Railworks. In Trainz Simulator 12, the Acela is built into the game.

See also

• Talgo XXI
• List of high-speed trains

Further reading

• Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak. MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-1765-8. 
• Vranich, Joseph (2004). End of the line: the failure of Amtrak reform and the future of America's passenger trains. AEI Press. ISBN 0-8447-4203-1. 

External links

• Amtrak: Acela Express
• Acela Express Inaugural Run Slide Show November 16, 2000; Stan's RailPix
• Acela Express Trainset Information by on-track-on-line.com
• Event announcing Amtrak's Acela service in 2000
• Railpictures.net and
• Acela Express Picture Archives
• "Acela Express," TGVweb - facts, figures, diagrams, and layouts.