Amtrak debuts five of its NextGen Acela trains on the Northeast Corridor next week with more seats and slightly faster trains between Washington, D.C., New York City and Boston.
The rollout begins Thursday, Aug. 28, and continues through 2027, when 28 NextGen trains will be on the rails.
This week Amtrak released the train numbers it will use for the new fleet:
Weekdays: 2153, 2154, 2170, and 2173
Saturdays: Trains 2250 and 2251
Sundays: Trains 2248, 2258, 2259, and 2271.
You can also look for the NextGen tag on Amtrak.com or the Amtrak app.
The NextGen fleet, manufactured at Alstom’s facility in Hornell, New York, will have 27% more seats than the current fleet and will be outfitted with a tilt feature that allows for a smoother ride along curves. Amenities include a café, free wi-fi and power outlets at each seat.
The NextGen can reach a top speed of 160 mph, about 10 mph faster than the current train.
“NextGen Acela is more than a new train – it’s an evolution of travel,” said Amtrak President Roger Harris.
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Building on ridership gains
Amtrak has been busy modernizing its fleet as it tries to build on the ridership gains it’s made in recent years.
“It is great news,” said Steve Strauss, the executive director of the Empire State Passenger Association. “Amtrak has a severe equipment shortage so these new trainsets will replace an aging original Acela fleet.”
ESPA has been urging Amtrak to add cars to the Hudson Valley section of the Empire Corridor route, which Strauss says is not meeting demand.
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“There are too few seats many days of the week and the recent Amtrak service reductions associated with East River Tunnel repairs have made the problem even worse,” Strauss said.
In the spring, Amtrak eliminated two daily round trips on its busy Albany-to-New York City route while it overhauls its century-old East River tunnels damaged by floodwater during Superstorm Sandy. The $1.6 billion project is expected to take three years.
Hudson Valley needs more train cars
Strauss is hoping the addition of the NextGen Acela trains will allow Amtrak to add more cars to New York State Service. Amtrak said it is looking into increasing capacity on its New York routes.
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New York City departures are out of Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station.
To the north, the NextGen will make stops in Stamford, New Haven and Providence, as well as three stops in the Boston area — Route 128, Back Bay and South Station. And to the south, the stops include Newark, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and Union Station in Washington, D.C.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Amtrak's NextGen Acela trains debut Aug. 28 along northeast route
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