Acela is the name used by Amtrak
for many of their trains in
the northeastern part of the United States. It is often used to refer to only
the high-speed trains which run between Washington and Boston via New
York and Philadelphia,
although these are more properly referred to as Acela Express
as there also exist Acela
Regional trains. Thanks to recent improvements to railroad infrastructure,
the trains have become much faster; one can travel between Boston and New York
in under four hours. This fact, combined with the convenience of the train as
opposed to air travel after September
11, has led Amtrak to capture nearly half of the market share of travelers
between Boston
and New
York City.
Acela Express trains are manufactured as a joint project between Bombardier
(75%) and Alstom (25%).
They reach a top speed of 160 mi/h
(257.5 km/h)
only on one 29 km
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(18 miles) stretch of track (High speed rail is usually defined as over 200
km/h, or about 125 mi/h). The average speed of the train in practice is below
110 mi/h (177 km/h).
Seats on the Acela Express are colored blue; the interior is largely white and brightly lit; there are tables in the first-class section, while other cars are business-class and include a car in which talking on cell phones is banned.
The trains stop at the following stations (note: not all trains stop at all stations). Connections to local rail transit are indicated.
