'' (often called simply '''''Acela''''', leading to early confusion with the '',
TGV ,
ICE ).
The ''
Acela '' name was announced in 1999, and was originally intended as a
Rebranding of most of Amtrak's Northeast services, forming three levels - ''Acela Express'', ''
Acela Regional '' and ''
Acela Commuter ''.
1 Due to confusion between the lower-speed ''Acela Regional'' trains and the ''Acela Express'' – as the name is (intentionally) evocative of ''acceleration'' – the ''Acela'' branding was removed from what is now the ''
Regional '' service in 2003. ''
Acela Commuter '' was rebranded ''Clocker'' (a previous name) for similar reasons, also in 2003,
2 and discontinued in 2005.
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
Airliner s, 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 that prevented regular trains from achieving high speeds. There was little support for building an entirely new railway as had been done for France's
TGV and Germany's
ICE .
In October 1994, Amtrak requested bids from train manufacturers who could design
Railroad Car s that could negotiate the crowded system at up to 150
Miles Per Hour (241
Km/h ). A joint project set up by
Bombardier (75%) and
Alstom (25%) was selected for the project in March 1996. The
Tilting design was used to compensate for the track's curvature and ensure that passengers would remain comfortable at higher speeds than a conventional train could safely achieve on the same tracks.
High-speed service was originally expected in late 1999, but various problems appeared. The trainsets were four
Inch es (about 10
Cm ) too wide to fully tilt, and as a result were unable to achieve the speeds originally intended. After a series of delays, the first Acela Express service began on
December 11 ,
2000 , a year behind schedule.
3
With the completion of electrification between New Haven and Boston, all trains on the line have become faster; one can travel between Boston and New York in just over three and a half hours on Acela Express (an improvement of half an hour). New York to Washington runs take about two and a half hours. These schedules, as well as the relative convenience of rail as opposed to air travel, especially after
September 11, 2001 , have made the Acela Express more competitive with the Northeast
Air Shuttle s.
High-speed rail is usually defined as traveling faster than 200 km/h, or about 125 mph. The highest speed attained by Acela Express is 150 mph (241 km/h) on two sections of track in
Rhode Island and
Massachusetts , which total 18 miles (29 km). There are also many miles of track, especially north of
New Haven , that have been upgraded to 110 mph and 125 mph (177 km/h and 201 km/h). South of New York, Acela Express is limited to 135 mph (217 km/h) with many stretches of 125 mph (201 km/h). Although the track is straight enough to allow 150 mph (241 km/h) in several areas here, the
Overhead Catenary support system was constructed during the
Great Depression . As such, it does not have the constant-tension features of the new catenary east of New Haven, and it cannot support running speeds over 135 mph (217 km/h), although in the late 1960s, the
Pennsylvania Railroad did run
Metroliner test trains as fast as and briefly ran the Metroliner service at speeds reaching . The slowest section of the electrified NEC is the portion owned by
Metro-North Railroad and the
Connecticut Department Of Transportation between
New Haven and
New Rochelle . Trains here are limited to only 90 mph (145 km/h) on a four-mile (6-km) stretch in New York State, and to 75 mph (121 km/h) between the New York state line and New Haven. Additionally, tilting is not allowed anywhere on Metro-North or ConnDOT property. At maximum tilt, the built-too-wide Acela Express trainset would pass other trains on parallel tracks only 10 inches (25 cm) away.
The scheduled transit time for the 5:00 a.m. departure from Washington, D.C. (the quickest stopping pattern) to Boston's South Station on Acela Express service is roughly 6 hours 36 minutes. Allowing for the fifteen minute scheduled layover in New York City, the average speed is 72 mph (116 km/h) for the 456 mi (734 km) trip. For the 225 mi (362 km) journey between Washington, D.C. and New York's Penn Station, the transit time is 2 hours 48 minutes, an average speed of 80 mph (129 km/h).
Beginning on July 9, 2007 Amtrak introduced two limited stop trains. Train 2105 leaves New York Penn Station at 6:50 AM, makes only one stop in Philadelphia, and arrives in Washington at 9:25 AM. Northbound, train 2120 departs Washington at 3:55 PM, stops in Philadelphia, and arrives in New York at 6:30 PM. This shortens the trip between the two cities to just 2 hours and 35 minutes, making the trip roughly an hour faster than some of the
Regional train services. The new train is an an experiment on Amtrak's part to find ways to expedite travel time on the Acela trains due to the speed restrictions on certain parts of the line.
Although the design of the trains, with identical 6,000 horsepower (4,474 kW)
Power Cars at each end, evokes France's
TGV , the only components directly derived from the TGV are the 4 asynchronous AC traction electric motors (per power car). The tilting carriages are based upon Bombardier's earlier
LRC trains rather than the TGV's articulated trailers, and the locomotives and passenger cars are much heavier than those of the TGV in order to meet North America'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 stations with high-level platforms — this restricts them to the Northeast Corridor and makes them impractical for most of the rest of the USA. Bombardier have since used the Acela Express's carriage design and a non-electric variant of the power car for their experimental
JetTrain .
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.
On
April 15 2005 , ''Acela Express'' trains were again removed from service when cracks were found in the
Disc Brake s 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.
Shortly afterward, on ; September 28, 2005;
{Link without Title} retrieved May 22, 2007.
['' The Day ; September 30, 2005; {Link without Title} retrieved May 22, 2007.]
On ''; January 17, 2007; Train tragedy may prompt more signs ; retrieved April 3, 2007.
The trainset consists of 2 power cars, a bistro car, a first class car, and 4 business class cars, semi-permanently coupled together. The Acela Express has newer, more comfortable seats than regional service counterparts. The first class car has 44 wider, more comfortable seats than the 260 business class seats.
