Amtrak Acela Express: Why bother?
Written: Aug 17 '01
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The Bottom Line
An excellent travel option, but the Acela Express isn't worth it.
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(NOTE: The epinions travel editor needs to get a clue. The questions at the bottom of this review refer to reviews that would go along with an e-commerce website, not a travel service.)
I love the idea of train travel, and, in fact, I think that in the coming decades American travelers are going to have to learn to take the train as airports get more and more crowded. I was especially heartened by the advent of the Amtrak Acela, which was billed as a high-speed train on the Eastern Corridor, between DC and Boston. Amtrak is about 30 years behind the rest of the world in developing high speed rail. Europe and Japan both offer super-fast trains that nicely take the place of air travel, and developing a similar system on the heavily traveled East Coast line seemed obvious to me.
The problem is that it just isn't fast.
I recently booked a trip from New York to Boston, and after searching the Amtrak website (which is excellent, BTW) for just the right trip, I learned that for TWICE the price of the Acela regional (the regular train) the Acela "Express" would have saved me a grand total of 20 minutes travel time. It was something like $60 vs. $120 for a one-way ticket without advance purchase; the regional took about 3:15 and the express about 2:50. Either of these is comparable in time and price with the airlines, but the express hardly lives up to its billing as a supertrain.
Amtrak offers a ton of trains daily on that route, and I chose the early-morning Acela regional, which got me to Boston's downtown South Station with no troubles at all.
I fully recommend Amtrak in general. The ride was comfortable, and rail is far more convenient because of the location of the stations and its much more predictable schedule. I don't think it's as cheap as it ought to be, and Amtrak is flailing financially, but every so often it's worthwhile to tear yourself away from flying.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 42
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