I Bought the CHEAPEST Ticket on America's FASTEST Train... But Was it WORTH IT?

[@erik_griswold]

The seats at 9:08 are the same as used on the Alston built Surfliner cars used in California.

[@johndornoff]

I rode Acela on a short trip from Providence, Rhode Island, to Boston in 2023 since I figured it would be my only chance to ride the original Acela sets. Overall, it was a good experience, minus the cafe attendant, who had to be the rudest Amtrak employee I have ever encountered.

[@TohaBgood2]

As to the Acela being "the slowest HSR service in the world" - 90 mph (144 km/h) average speed is actually very respectable. And about half of the HSR services in Europe and Japan are in fact slower. So the Acela on the NY-DC segment is a bang-on average HSR service. It's the NY to Boston segment, especially the Connecticut segments, that are slow and HSR in name only, That northern segment is what drags the overall Acela average speed to 70 mph.

[@Neville60001]

The track does need to be improved in that section, yeah, but on the whole, this is a great achievement for a North American railway provider, one that I wish VIA Rail here in Canada would try to achieve on one of our corridors here.

[@emjayay]

@@Neville60001 It would need straightnenig out curves, and in a densly populated place like Connecticut difficult and expensive and we don't spend $ on rail (except in the Biden bill passed a couple years ago, which Trump wants to cut spending from). Ideally HSR needs dedicated tracks with concrete ties with no stones to kick up. 160 mph = 260 Kmph, so that 's pretty good on the old tracks.

[@samtrak1204]

I was conductor on Acela for 15 years before I retired. It is the worst riding high speed train in the world and a mechanical nightmare. Crews hate it and the sky high fares are highway robbery. Amtrak should be forced to lower fares in line with other high speed operators around the world so that the average Joe Blow can afford to ride the train subsidized by his tax dollars pay yet caters exclusively to the expense account trade. Acela Express takes 7 hours to get from WAS to BOS whereas a real high speed train would cover the 450 miles in 3 hours. Meanwhile the new train sets rot in PHL Race Street yard.

[@anthonystrains1672]

Im surprised only $83 about two weeks out. Ive seen as low as around $70 maybe about 1-3 months out. Awesome video though and cant wait to see more!

[@ReeseEastAnglia]

At 16:20 you are crossing the Susquehanna River, not the Gunpowder Or Bush rivers Havre De Glace, on the south bank of the Susquehanna, is one of the two towns on each side of the Northeast Corridor's Susquehanna River Bridge, the other being Perryville. It is said to have missed out on being the US Capital by a single vote. Early industries in Havre De Glace included oyster and crab harvesting and the fruit orchards. In the 1812 war Lieutenant John O'Neill single-handedly manned a cannon to help defend the town, in a mark of respect the town made O'Neill and his descendants heriditary keepers of the Concord Point lighthouse at the mouth of the Susquehanna Across the river at Perryville, was Rodgers Tavern, which George Washington frequently visited

[@NikonF5user]

The Island you can see upriver as your cross the Susquehanna is called Garrett Island, named for B&O Railroad president John Work Garrett. The Island is transversed by the B&O (now CSX) railroad that runs parallel to Amtrak...

[@qjtvaddict]

Make havre de glace station an island platform station reshape NEC and Acela as a super express intercity service with a single stop pattern only stopping at island platform stations. Remove NJT slow express trains from the way of Acela.

[@NikonF5user]

​@@qjtvaddictNJT doesn't often slow other trains as there are four tracks on much of the main up that way...

[@PaulBishop-v1o]

It’s Havre de Grace, not Havre de Glace.

[@hardygriff]

If only you’d done this a few months from now when the Avelias enter service! Most recent debut time is now spring 2025. The current Acelas are over 20 years old, as you can probably tell. Hope you enjoyed your trip! P.S. Entertainment system does not in fact work. lol. Definitely a relic from the late 90s-early 00s back when airlines had what were basically radio stations you could plug headphones into.

[@TheRailwayDrone]

Given Amtrak's & Alstom's track record over the years, I'd be surprised if the new trains come into service in March.

[@Neville60001]

@@TheRailwayDrone, I wonder if it's possible to have trains built by Hitachi or Nippon Sharyo?

[@TheRailwayDrone]

@@Neville60001 I think it's a little late for that. I was actually hoping Amtrak would choose Hitachi to replace the Amfleets back when they were choosing companies to replace them.

[@AnetaMihaylova-d6f]

​@@TheRailwayDroneUS high train system is surprisingly bad . I thought is much better . Europe 's system is much faster and better

[@AnetaMihaylova-d6f]

​​@@Neville60001it looks quite old and outdated

[@tonys1636]

Those platforms at New York were no narrower than the Gatwick Express ones at London Victoria that were reduced when the realignment to allow for extra tracks.

[@samtrak1204]

The platfrms at NYP are still too narrow and dangerous. (Sam Jennings, Retired Amtrak Conductor)

[@Neville60001]

The entertainment system transmitting the Acela's 'radio station' is no longer being offered, since everybody pretty much has a smartphone that can play MP3's.

[@samtrak1204]

The Acela entertainment system was ditched many years ago before everybody had a laptaop and iphone.

[@erik_griswold]

during COVID you could get tickets in Acela First Class for around $100 one way.

[@emjayay]

A couple years befoe that for some reason advance Acela tickets were the same price as the regular train (for certain times of the day) so I took it NYC-DC. $69 I think. Much smoother than the regular old trains over the crap tracks, actually owned by Amtrak unlike in the rest of the country.

[@erik_griswold]

@@emjayay And there were occasionally promotions where you could ride Acela at discounted prices NYP to Boston or v.v. Obnoxiously, I can brag that I have only ridden Acela in First Class due to this.

[@jmgrahit26]

Washington Union inspired Milano Centrale

[@joelightrailway2362]

Now this is one of my favourite main line passenger Railroad route from Washington DC to Boston. And I really like the trains on this route including the one you ride on as well the loco hauled and newer trains. There one route in Florida that I really recommend you to ride on is the Brightline trains which are my personal favourite with Siemens built trains in action as well the modern stations.

[@emjayay]

WE don't have railway carriages here. We have railway cars. We also have about five names for shopping carts (most typical name) depending on where you live.

[@mazdaman2315]

Very good video! Thank you for making this for us, have you thought about doing a long haul trip on Amtrak?

[@JBS319]

Amtrak has flash sales every so often that offer extremely steep discounts. During these sales I have seen fares as low as $50 between New York and Washington. Acela services are getting new trains next year that will have higher capacity for business class, lower capacity for first class and higher capacity overall with a top speed of 160 MPH. The low average speed over the Boston to Washington corridor is largely due to slow tracks in Connecticut where there are numerous sections of 30 MPH track. The average speeds on the New York to Washington section are 90 MPH. Portal Bridge, the Susquehanna Bridge and the B&P Tunnels are the biggest bottlenecks and speed restrictions on the NEC, and all are set to be replaced in the coming years. Another big speed restriction is due to the almost 100 year old PRR catenary system. State of the art when it was built, it now causes delays and causes restrictions to 135 MPH. This is also set to be replaced.

[@emjayay]

I think some of the wires are modern now. It's the old ones that also can't compensate for high heat, causing all kinds of problems recently.

[@cryorig_transit05]

4:15 you could've went to the West End Concourse to skip the line... or even go to the elevators

[@joefitz531]

I think if you’re going a longer distance (Bos-Wash) I would say Acela is worth it just to save time. If you’re going a shorter distance then the NE Regional is probably the better choice.

[@emjayay]

The narrow platforms are the original Penn Station ones. They removed the good part (the station) and left the bad part in the 1960s. So they can't be open until the train is there and emptied, then everyone lines up for the escalators. So Moynihan is pretty but does NOT work well, besides having seating only for ticketed passengers all crammed in a room over at one side.

[@jamesryan2464]

Nicely done...

[@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45]

14:57 Why is there an MBTA train in DC?

[@charlesnmuse]

I think that was the Amtrak holiday extra

[@aarishdeb7961]

India's Vande Bharat Train is the slowest high speed train

[@aswinhanagal4293]

To be fair to Vande Bharat, it's actually meant to be a semi highspeed train (and was even advertised as such).

[@TheRailwayDrone]

Cool video. I take this train monthly from DC to NYC to visit my parents and grandparents. Prices are high, but Amtrak usually has a lot of sales throughout the year which makes the service so much cheaper (and I'm also a veteran so we get an additional 10% discount) . Amtrak still has a LOT of work to do, but I will give them credit on the construction and upgrades that are taking place at this point. However, I am EXTREMELY disappointed by the 4-year delay of the new Acelas. Completely unacceptable for me, but par for the course in American public transportation.

[@jonchall71]

Us Europeans are well used to most new trains being delayed into service and not actually working

[@TheRailwayDrone]

@@jonchall71 Really? Even by 4 years?

[@Letsgobyland]

looks good. I would take it👍

[@louiszhang3050]

One thing that makes me optimistic about rail travel in the United States is that it seems like wherever you go, there are major projects being done. New trains, new stations, new tracks, and more capacity (hopefully means lower prices) will transform rail travel on this corridor in the upcoming decade. But I wonder what's so "business" about Acela. This seems no different from second class in Europe! I travelled twice on the Northeast Regional, going from Philly to DC and then Boston to DC, paying $15 and $45, respectively. Why is the Acela that much more expensive? But I guess Amtrak can keep charging these high prices because the demand is so high relative to the number of trains they have.

[@pigbearcub]

You can.thank the Democrats and Biden for that. If it were up to the Republicans, they would either defund or kill Amtrak.

[@alexpolyakov5934]

Probably the dirtiest windows of any premium train I ever rode or saw video reports of, what a shame 😮

[@emjayay]

Some HSR trains in Italy have crap windows, but I think it's not dirt but a failed plastic layer or something like that.

[@tigerphid9677]

I find it interesting that these Amtrak videos often highlight the fact that passenger trains run through some of the most un-scenic and frankly brutal industrial landscapes in America.

[@emjayay]

Well it's the Northeast between NYC and DC. But Amtrak in the rest of the country does go though some spectacular scenery.

[@fredburley9512]

Chicago to San Francisco on the two night Amtrak with a cabin. Yes, around 45mph average speed which makes the journey very pleasant I thought, with an observation coach. I didn't know Amtrak had a high speed train - good for those east-coast city connections I should imagine. Nice tilt. Like to say that you hear a lot of negativity about Joe Biden but according to some he was not that bad for the country. Keep your North America videos coming.

[@emjayay]

The Amtrak trains in the west do regularly cruise at 80 mph/130kmh. I think they are capable of more. Of course, a long upgrade will slow them to a crawl, and the US is not necessarliy exactly flat out there.

[@newtonwinters71]

Wow the top speed is not even close to the Eurostar speed of 300km/h…

Typical high speed travel in the US is by aircraft which travel at about 885 KM/Hour making the Eurostar seem quite slow.

[@newtonwinters71]

Even here in Europe we do have thriving air travel. We are not comparing Eurostar to air travel that is completely out of context. Anyway I understand that you have air travel but who doesn’t? Even in Africa everyone uses aviation.Try not to allow emotions to cloud your reasoning capabilities. Just accept that Europe is way more advanced than the US when it comes to high speed rail. By the way did you know that the Eurostar passes under the sea between England and France? You have to understand that in as much as the US is a technology super power it is also deficient in some aspects of technology and in this case High speed rail travel..

[@emjayay]

The new ones will hit 260km/hr. For 300km/h you probably need dedicated tracks with concrete ties fully covering the gravel.

[@SCRguy-k3d]

A PACERS MAX SPEED IS FASTER THAN THE ACELA CAN GO ON THE NORTH-EAST CORRIDOR!

[@creativemindplay]

Maryland = mare-uh-land, not mary-land

[@haveringpish]

Tired and underwhelming.

[@Neville60001]

And yet, a lot of people use it.

I though the presenter did a fairly good job, a bit negative perhaps.

[@JackJackProductions]

No it's not worth the money. Flying is a better deal

[@DubGathoni]

Well, judging by the numbers of commuters, I think they would disagree with you

[@aswinhanagal4293]

​@@DubGathoni a lot of acelas end up being used by business travelers who aren't paying out of pocket haha

[@robmarney]

A comparable DC-NYC flight is more expensive, less luxurious, and slower once you count transit time to Manhattan, security, etc. A DC-BOS flight is arguably better than Acela.

[@emjayay]

@@robmarney In either case you have to get to the airport (no subway service to LaGuardia) and then get from National to where you are going in DC, plus allow an extra hour at least for unpredictable security lines. And a lot of time walking in the airport. Bad weather will delay or cancel planes far more often than trains. You may be able to walk to and from the train stations and get there at the last minute. And then spend most of the time on the train working unlike time spent getting to the airport and walking and waiting in lines.