15 Great Reasons to Welcome the New Acelas

by Jim Mathews / President & CEO

I have upwards of 250,000 miles on passenger trains from around the world. I’ve ridden every Amtrak train in the system except the Auto Train (an oversight I need to fix), plus the Ave, the TGV, Shinkansen, lumbering-but-lovable Brit Rail, Dutch trains, French trains, Austrian trains, Italian trains, the simultaneously stunning and practical Alaska Railroad, and on, and on. But in my previous job before coming to the Association, I used the Acela for business trips between D.C. and New York City as often as three times per week. For years. My personal nerdy mileage log says I have 97,320 miles on the Acela service alone. In fact, while I was Executive Editor for digital editorial at Aviation Week, I was also a member of the Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee, where my job was to represent the Acela riders, specifically.

So, believe me when I say that over the years I developed a love-hate relationship with the existing Acela equipment. It was state of the art...once. But there were things about it that went from being a mere inconvenience to an outright irritation after more than a few trips. That’s why I’m so excited that next week I get to take my long-awaited first trip on Amtrak’s newest trainset for the Acela service between DC and Boston – the Alstom Avelia Liberty.

I took part in some design previews, and even walked through a brand-new, plastic-bag-wrapped train at Alstom’s Hornell, N.Y., assembly plant for these trains. But nothing will beat getting the chance to really ride the train, in actual service. I’ll post pictures and videos and bits of the experience next week when I take the ride. Until then, I just wanted to share with everyone my personal list of 15 reasons why I’m so excited for the introduction of these new trains:

1 - Having electrical outlets at each seat means I don't have to worry about my aisle-seat neighbor's laptop cord under my legs or across my lap.

2 - The seat “wings” – little projections around the top of the seat – offer a bit of personal privacy. And they have individual lights in them, which is nice for reading.

3 - And speaking of seats, they’re plenty wide. No, they aren’t rolling Barcaloungers, but they’re comfortable and not saggy like the seats we have now.

4 - The windows are bigger.

5 - No more ragged, ripped-up blue curtains (with those little plastic runners that are constantly broken).

6 - Without the big bins, at least you don't have to worry about smacking your forehead on an open door, or worse yet nearly losing an eye to the door's corners. I'm constantly finding myself shutting those doors when I walk by because people are too conditioned by the airlines to keep them open until a flight attendant closes them.

7 - A lot more grab bars and hand-holds. A LOT more.

8 - The clunky, awkward table leaves in the existing four-place seat sections are gone. Right now, if I want that down to use it I have to ask my neighbor if they mind having it down, too. Likewise, if I want it up and they want it down that’s a problem, especially if you’re in the window seat and need to get up. In the new equipment, I get my own, they get their own. Harmony...

9 - And speaking of tray tables...these don't weigh 50 pounds when you want to open them and deploy them.

10 - Cleaner, less imposing walkways through the vestibules.

11 - Even better for cleanliness? Touch-free restrooms, with lots of space!

12 - Extendable/retractable bridge plates to fill the gaps between the train and the platform.

13 - More capacity. At 386 seats, the new Avelia Liberty trainsets will add 27 percent more seats to the Acela service, and that will mean less crowding.

14 - Digital displays in the cars that actually work, telling you accurately what the next stop is and so forth.

15 - A MUCH smoother and quieter ride.

I’m quite sure I’ll read in the comments that they took too long to deliver (they did), and that it’s not fair that the Northeast Corridor gets their new equipment before anyone else (their order was first) and that this person or that person doesn’t like the lights (too bright, too dim), or the seats (too hard or too soft), or the tray tables.

And I’m sure there also will be more serious issues to address, like the quality of the Wi Fi signal, the increasing use of USB-C power while the outlets include only USB-A, or any other myriad entry-into-service challenges. I've heard some genuine concerns from operating crews who have been able to spend some time with the systems in final testing and training. We'll keep following up on that, and press for resolutions with Amtrak and anyone else who needs to be involved.

Even so, I’m standing by my list of 15 things. And I’d love to see all of you maybe add your own list (whether it’s 15 or just one or two)? What are YOU happy to see with the new trains?