Another try at Acela non-stop service

[SouthernRailway]

many people will probably still prefer to go all the way to NYP

Instead of Newark, definitely. Wall Street or Battery Park City to NYP is a cinch. I used to live on Wall Street (literally) and would never have thought about going to Newark instead of NYP.

[Greg Moore]

many people will probably still prefer to go all the way to NYP

Instead of Newark, definitely. Wall Street or Battery Park City to NYP is a cinch. I used to live on Wall Street (literally) and would never have thought about going to Newark instead of NYP.

Very few people ever have

[Rockingham Racer]

Has any ACELA EVER stopped in Trenton....unless it broke down in the station?

Metropark YES;

Very few Regionals even stop in Trenton.

Southbound, every Regional--except two--stop in Trenton. Don't know where you got that idea.


https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/proj ... 061019.pdf

[rcthompson04]

Has any ACELA EVER stopped in Trenton....unless it broke down in the station?

Metropark YES;

Very few Regionals even stop in Trenton.

Southbound, every Regional--except two--stop in Trenton. Don't know where you got that idea.

The same applies Northbound as well. Only 2 non-Acela trains do not stop at Trenton.


https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/proj ... 061019.pdf

[Gilbert B Norman]

Corner bet: six months.

[Suburban Station]

Very few people ever have

it's actually an easier transfer than NYP. I had never done it until the "summer of hell" but haven't gone back. it also saves time depending on where you are coming from. it's 20 to 24 minutes from WTC to NYP, it's 28 minutes from WTC to NWK, and it's 17 minutes NYP to NWK. Total trip time not including transfer time is 37 to 41 minutes via NYP versus 28 minutes via NWK, actual savings is a little more bit more since the transfer is faster as well. in my experience few people do it outside of peak but people who work on wall street and take the train do the transfer in the morning (my experience is riding amtrak, not NJT, fwiw).

[Gilbert B Norman]

The Pennsy always printed the H&M departure time for the East-West fleet in Form 1 (System PTT) from Hudson Terminal. H&M was an interline "billing road" and even handled checked baggage from HT to "wherever".

[Tadman]

This does beg an interesting question: Where do "New York" passengers come from. They're not all living within 20 minutes of Penn Station. Some are on Manhattan uptown or downtown, some are out on Long Island, Connecticut, Hudson Valley, Jersey, Staten... it would be an interesting survey to see. It might help alleviate congestion at Penn Station by add/remove stations closer to concentrations of customers.

For example, and this is purely example, if the numbers showed that 40% were Hoboken and 40% were Queens but only 20% at Penn, maybe it would make more sense to build a station on a siding near Sunnyside, make a brief stop at Penn, then dwell at Newark for a bit. I'm not advocating for such, just for finding out where the Penn passengers come from. The biggest city in the continent probably has much different ridership patterns than even the Chicago/LA/DC riders, let alone the Saint Louis and Rochester riders.

[ExCon90]

The Pennsy always printed the H&M departure time for the East-West fleet in Form 1 (System PTT) from Hudson Terminal. H&M was an interline "billing road" and even handled checked baggage from HT to "wherever".

In fact, on eastbound trains, if you had a New York ticket, the seat check the conductor gave you was good for passage on the H&M from Newark to anywhere east (with facsimile signature of the Passenger Traffic Manager, no less), and in those days there was no barrier on the platform between Track 1 or 2 and the H&M. If you stayed on the train the conductor simply lifted the seat check after Newark.

[west point]

The non stop does not need to stop at any intermediate stations. From NYP ==== There is a scheduled 0600 regular Acela and a 0700 regular Acela. The 0635 non stop fills in and does not need to stop any where. The non stop scheduled to arrive WASH 11 minutes after the 0600 regular ACELA ! That is a savings of 24 minutes scheduled for the non stop !
Wonder the ridership NYP - WASH on the present 0600 and 0700 ACELAS ?

[Rockingham Racer]

Is Amtrak advertising the service yet?

[rcthompson04]

The non stop does not need to stop at any intermediate stations. From NYP ==== There is a scheduled 0600 regular Acela and a 0700 regular Acela. The 0635 non stop fills in and does not need to stop any where. The non stop scheduled to arrive WASH 11 minutes after the 0600 regular ACELA ! That is a savings of 24 minutes scheduled for the non stop !
Wonder the ridership NYP - WASH on the present 0600 and 0700 ACELAS ?

That would be an even smaller time save for Philadelphia, Wilmington or Baltimore. That is why the whining from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Wilmington is misplaced.

[N-Rambler]

Can someone please tell me what the track distance is for the Acela route, between Washington and New York?

[NY&LB]

Has any ACELA EVER stopped in Trenton....unless it broke down in the station?

Metropark YES;

Very few Regionals even stop in Trenton.

Southbound, every Regional--except two--stop in Trenton. Don't know where you got that idea.


https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/proj ... 061019.pdf

Neither do I ! Thank you for the correction.

[Arlington]

Any speculation on why it has the same running time as the prior NYP-PHL-WAS?

Have things gotten slower despite the catenary upgrade?
Did the old one have trouble staying on schedule?
Is the slot slightly more congested than the previous time slot?
Did they pick a slot that would be indifferent between stopping and not stopping at PHL?

If the old one could stop at PHL and still have the same running time between New York and Washington, it is very strange that the new one does not stop at Philadelphia.

Dominating local PHL traffic is a lucrative business.