Amtrak's High-Speed Train Debuts
W A S H I N G T O N, Dec. 11 -- The high-speed Acela Express train, a first for the nation that Amtrak hopes will renew interest in rail travel and lure business travelers from airlines, entered regular service today with a trip that began in Washington before dawn and reached Boston by noon.
The snub-nosed train, which has a top speed of 150 mph and seats304, had 114 people on board when it crawled out of Washington’s Union Station, on time, at 5 a.m.
The train picked up additional passengers at stops includingBaltimore and Philadelphia before arriving at New York’s PennStation at 7:47 a.m. — just three minutes behind schedule. Thescheduled Washington-New York run is 16 minutes faster than the old3-hour Amtrak timetable.
The train reached Boston at 11:41 a.m., 10 minutes late, after aride of three hours, 38 minutes — about 80 minutes faster than asimilar trip a year ago.
In all, the train covered 457 miles and made 11 stops in sevenstates before reaching Boston’s South Station.
“This is a special day,” said Amtrak President GeorgeWarrington, who boarded the train at its first stop,Baltimore-Washington International Airport. “It took us a longtime to get here, and it took us a long time to get America here.”
‘It’s About Time’
Chronicling the historic trip with two cameras, one for stillpictures and one for video, was Bob Rollins, a retired NASAemployee from Boonsboro, Md., who became enamored of European-stylehigh-speed trains while working overseas two decades ago.
“It’s about time. We need an interstate railway just like wehave a highway system,” said Rollins, who planned to travel toBoston, have a leisurely afternoon, then take the same high-speedtrain back to Washington late in the day.
John Lewis, who lives with his family in Washington but justbegan working for a nonprofit foundation in New York City, said hemay make Acela Express his regular means of commuting at the startand end of each work week.
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