Philadelphia to New York on the Acela

[oltmannd]

Thanks for the report. 

Those NY-Philly fares are sky-high.  I believe Amtrak would prefer to have a NY - DC rider than a Philly - NY rider, so they try to discourage them.  You can do the same trip on SEPTA and NJT for much less - although the total trip time is about 2-1/2 hours.  Or, SEPTA Market St Subway to PATCO line to NJT River Line to NJT NEC line for much, much, less.  Last month I did two round trips from the Philly area by driving to NJTs mammoth, new Hamilton station.  Round trip was something like $20 off peak from Hamilton which is about 50 miles from Penn.

Finally, I agree with your assessment of 30th St. Station.  It is the BEST passenger station in the country.  All parts of it are doing what they were designed to do at volumes near design level.  Plus the feel of the station is just awsome.  I worked in offices there for a couple years in the late 70's and it was grand, even then.

However, the PRR never called any of their E-W fleet there.  They all stopped at North Philly and headed west at Zoo.  If you wanted to ride the Broadway from Philly, you took the Paoli local and got on there.  (The last years of the Broadway on Amtrak, it did stop in Phila and changed direction - you rode backward to/from NY)

[Anonymous]

Last Tuesday I rode the Acela from Philadelphia to New York.  It is a convenient, comfortable way to travel between the City of Brotherly Love and the Big Apple. 

I caught the 8:35 a.m. departure from 30^th Street Station, which is one of Amtrak's grandest stations.  It's what a major railway station ought to be.  In the cavernous main hall I could almost hear the announcer calling passengers for the Broadway Limited, Spirit of St. Louis, East Coast Champion, Silver Meteor, etc.  Equally important, the staff that I have encountered on this, as well as previous trips through 30^th Street, was courteous, pleasant, and knowledgeable.    

The interior of the Acela is an inviting.  My business class car was bathed in soft light from recessed lights in the ceiling while amble light from outside flowed through the car's large windows.  Individual reading lights are available for each seat.  The overhead bins for small carry-on items reminded me of those found on commercial airplanes.  But they provide more space and appear easier to open and close.  There is a luggage area at the end of the car where a garment bag or coat can be hung.  The seats are covered in a light blue fabric that has just a hint of a red woven into it.  The sides of the car are cream colored, and the floor is covered with a dark blue carpet.  The restroom was clean and appeared to contain high quality countertops and facilities.

My seat was comfortable, with plenty of leg room, although when it was in the full upright position it felt a bit confining.  However, by putting it back a notch, it fit me much better.  Or I fit it better depending on one's perspective.  The tray in the back of the seat in front of me was easy to manipulate, but it sloped toward me.  I placed a cup of coffee on it, not recognizing straightaway the slop.  It immediately began sliding toward me.  Had I not been paying attention, it could have easily slid into my lap.  Most of the seats in my car faced forward, but there were several sets of facing seats with a conference table between them.

Moving between the cars was a snap.  The doors appear to sense movement and open automatically.  The passage way between the cars is wide (two people can easily pass each other) and easy to navigate.  Interestingly, the floor is corrugated, like the diaphragms between the cars, but walking on them was not an issue.

The cafe car is ordinary.  I ordered a cup of coffee, which I took back to my seat.  The items on the menu appear to be standard Amtrak fare.  There is a counter in the car where patrons can sit and enjoy their food and beverage.  All the seats were occupied.  Several of the patrons had brought their laptops into the car and were banging away on the keyboards, undoubtedly sending that all important email.      

The Acela gets up to 135 mph at several points on the run from Philadelphia to New York or so I am told.  In any case, except when I looked down at the ties on the parallel track, I did not sense that we were moving any faster than the regional trains that I have ridden between Philadelphia and New York.  The ride was smooth and quiet, except during several brake applications when some vibration was felt.

Riding the Acela from Philadelphia to New York is expensive.  My fare was $125, which is typical for the morning trains.  It works out to approximately $1.37 per mile.  The scheduled time for the Acela is one hour and ten minutes.  My train was on time.  Interestingly, the regional train that leaves at 8:28 a.m. only takes 21 minutes longer than the Acela, whereas the one immediately after it only takes 16 minutes longer.  The cost to ride the regional trains is $64 or approximately 70 cents a mile.  The premium to ride the Acela, when one only considers the time variable, is pretty steep.

My fellow passengers began lining up about 20 minutes before the gate attendant allowed us to go down to the station platform.  Passengers are guaranteed a seat on the train, but they are not assigned a specific seat.  I lined up because I figured people at the head of the line would get a better chance at a window seat.  Wrong!  We were cleared to go down to the station platform about five minutes before the train arrived.  So we had an opportunity to jockey for a position where we thought the car doors would be when the train stopped.  As it turned out, I outguessed most of the other passengers and was amongst the first to board, thereby ensuring myself a window seat.

The Acela is a first class train supported by a first class reservation system.  Unfortunately, it is also supported by a third class passenger boarding system and fare verification process.  Tickets are taken on the train as they have been for as long as I can remember.  Given the power of modern computers, it would not be difficult to assign seats when reservations are made.  This would remove the need to line up 20 or more minutes before the train is scheduled to depart.  Also, Amtrak should adopt a fare collection system similar to that used by the airlines.  Boarding passes should be lifted at the gate.  This would mean, of course, enclosing the platforms used by the Acela, but doing so should not be an insurmountable challenge.  People willing to pay $1.37 per mile should not be afflicted with boarding and fare collection processes that were designed more than 100 years ago. 

I returned to Philadelphia from New York on a regional train.  My fare was $45 or approximately 50 cents per mile.  Again, it only took about 15 minutes longer on the regional train than the Acela.  My seat mate was a business person traveling from Newark to Baltimore.  She had a business wise perspective on traveling by Acela.  She said that the cost difference, given that most business people can take a laptop computer on the train and work while they are traveling, is not worth it.  This is even truer for most people who are paying the fare out of their pocket. 

I estimate the load factor on the Acela was between 25 and 40 per cent when it arrived in Philadelphia from Washington.  Departing Philadelphia it appeared to have a load factor of approximately 60 per cent.  There were plenty of aisle seats throughout the train.  The regional train back to Philadelphia was not crowded departing Penn Station.  However, after Metropark the load factor on the train appeared to be approximately 80 per cent.  A large percentage of the passengers got off at Philadelphia; I did not observe how many got on, but it did not appear to be a big crowd. 

Riding the Acela was a rush.  I am glad I did it.  But given the cost difference, I will take a regional train the next time I am traveling in the NEC.  The difference in the cost would pay for a nice meal in most good restaurants.