Amtrak Acela Experience

I took Amtrak's Acela from Boston to New York last month and it reframed how I think about the relationship between speed, comfort, and public infrastructure. Technically a high-speed train, the Acela tops out at 150 mph on certain stretches. It averages closer to 80 mph because the tracks are shared with freight rail and the curves were designed in the 1930s for slower trains. In Japan or France this would be considered embarrassingly slow. In the context of the Northeast Corridor it is still faster than driving and less stressful than flying when you account for airport security and boarding time. The seats are wide enough that you do not touch the person next to you, there's a power outlet at every row. The cafe car sells surprisingly decent coffee and sandwiches. WiFi is unreliable, which Amtrak acknowledges on their website by saying it is complimentary rather than guaranteed. Honestly I ended up reading a book instead which was probably better for me anyway. Window views between New Haven and New York are industrial and unglamorous. There is a stretch along the Connecticut coast where the tracks run right next to the water and the light in the afternoon is genuinely beautiful. The design problem with Amtrak is not the trains themselves but the stations and the booking system. Penn Station in New York is a genuinely depressing place, dark and crowded with low ceilings and confusing signage. The Amtrak app makes buying tickets more complicated than it needs to be with surge pricing that changes by the hour. But the core experience of sitting on a train and watching the landscape change while you read or work or just stare out the window is a form of transit that no other mode can replicate. I'd take the Acela over a shuttle flight every time if the price were comparable. Most students don't realize how good train travel can be, and that probably says more about our car-and-plane culture than about any failing of the train itself.