WASHINGTON — Amtrak will begin one nonstop round trip between Washington and New York’s Penn Station, the passenger railroad announced today.
The service begins Monday, Sept. 23; tickets are now available. The weekday-only service will feature a southbound train departing New York at 6:35 a.m. and arriving in Washington about 9:10 a.m. The northbound train will depart Washington at 4:30 p.m. and arrive at New York about 7:05 p.m.
“The new Acela Nonstop service will have you halfway to your New York City or DC destination in the time it would take you to board a flight,” Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson said in a press release. “This new service will offer an ideal solution for travelers who want to save time and travel between city center DC and New York.”
According to the release, the train will feature new amenities to be announced “closer to the launch date.” It will offer the quiet car, Café car, and first-class available on other Acela trains.
Amtrak has tried the Acela non-stop between NYC & Washington DC at least once before and that service didn’t last very long. Maybe this time enough passengers will make it work.
Arthur, a good deal of the credit given for the huge decline in the air shuttles between LGA and DCA and LGA and BOS is Amtrak. So amtrak already has it figured out before this “wonderful” new CEO showed up. I am sure videoconferencing has some impact too, but here are the facts https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2014/11/why-more-northeast-us-travelers-take-the-train-than-a-plane-in-2-charts/383158/
Curtis Larson
Even the regular Amtrak equipment has come close to those speeds. Over 15 years ago, we made a trip from Miami to Chicago to Boston to Miami in a PV. We hit 115MPH in that area in a car that was almost 60 years old at the time. It was ( and is ) the oldest Budd built stainless steel passenger car designed for interchange that meets Amtrak standards.
Might be Amtrak’s way of saying they’ll use the old Acelas for express trains instead of retiring them when the new new Acela IIs start rolling
I think this might be better if they added a suburban stop in Metro-Park and another outside DC. I doubt if there are many people who would go from New Jersey back to NYC to catch a 6:30 AM train. Same in DC. From Boston a stop in Back Bay and Rte. 128 and then nonstop to Stamford and then Penn. Station. The market is in the suburbs as well as the central cities.
LAWRENCE – Thanks for the update. I had no idea about New Rochelle before your post.
Mr. Beal is probably correct in his observation about the PC’s 1970 schedule being 5 minutes slower than the new Acela. Having had an early Metroliner ride to DC in 1972 and getting a photo of the speedo marking 126 MPH, it is a reminder of just how difficult it has been to get the NEC (Pennsy) any faster. So, the latest ballyhoo is likely just that.
ARTHUR – Trains aren’t planes. What trains have to offer is the intermediate cities and/or the suburban stops. And in a better world (i.e. Europe) seamless connectivity to local travel. As I posted below, Amtrak has five stops in Metro Detroit. ALL FIVE are better located than Detroit Metro Airport, which could be renamed Ann Arbor Metro Airport.
The weak spot of Amtrak’s NEC is north suburban New York. If my info is correct (I’m pretty sure it is) Amtrak has no stops between Stamford (Connecticut) and New York Penn Station. That means three populous counties NEC passes through- Westchester, Bronx and Queens – with no way to get on or off an Amtrak train. Connectivity to Metro North (separate tickets, separate websites, separate cell phone apps) exists at several stations, but no connectivity to LIRR.
Let’s look at a scenario. Westchester County has frequent service on Metro North. Nassau County has frequent service on LIRR. Anyone want to plan a train trip between those two points? Good luck. Until Metro North starts running over Amtrak’s Hell Gate Bridge (as proposed, I don’t know if there’s a start date) such a train trip means changing between Grand Central and Penn Station in Manhattan, an entirely unpleasant chore.
GERALD MACFARLANE please come to the rescue here. GERALD you talk about New York and Northeast America vital to USA economy and thus Amtrak vital to them. Six of Northeastern USA’s most significant counties add up to zero Amtrak stops: Westchester, Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Nassau and Suffolk. We obsess over the need for Amtrak in New Mexico and western Kansas, or across North Dakota. Why leave out six important counties in New York State?
Why can’t there be Amtrak (toilets, food and beverage service) with no change of trains from Washington to New York Penn to Hempstead to Montauk? That’s a lot of people in those areas. (Yeah, I know change of voltage and change of electrical feed and all that, the New Haven Railroad figured it out, so can Amtrak.)
As noted, Amtrak tried this “Non-stop” 15-20 years ago, without much success. Part of the problem was the schedule. An afternoon express departed Washington Union Station at 3:55 PM, with the regular multistop Acela departed at 4:00 PM. I remember seeing the boarding lines in Union Station actually crossing at the gates one day, so it’s no wonder that many express trains had passengers bound for intermediate stations. Sometimes, the trains stopped, usually they didn’t.
Amtrak must figure out some way to convince the traveling public to listen to announcements. Good luck.
Mr. Landey, Amtrak some regional trains stop at New Rochelle, MY in Westchester Co.
ROBERT – You are right (as usual, as always). The whole point of trains is the multiple stops and the intermediate stops. The New Haven Railroad figured that out with Route 128 Station in the 1950’s. Widely copied since, like Amtrak stops at Homewood, LaGrange and Glenview in the Chicago suburbs. Also MKA at Mitchell Airport, Milwaukee, which is really a south suburban park-ride, not actually an airport stop. Also Pontiac, Troy/ Birmingham, Royal Oak and Dearborn in the Detroit suburbs. Fullerton (California) in the LA Basin.
DANIEL – Yes we’ve been down this road before. As ROBERT posts, didn’t work then, won’t work now.
If a passenger gets up early enough to get to Penn Station for a 6:35 AM departure, why would he care if fifteen or twenty minutes is added for a few more stops.
Daniel, you’re right. This has been tried in the past and has been a failure just like adding a sleeper to the overnight train has been a failure and will be again if instituted. Soon they will add a stop at Metro Park and the suburban DC station. Then Philadelphia and Baltimore will be added and then you are back to a multi-stop train once again.
Haven’t we been down this road before?
Seems like the time savings between normal Acela serice and this new nonstop service, would be an interesting bit to include.
Wow I like this idea
Years ago, both Delta and USAir filled up multiple Boeing 727s every day for non stop trips between BOS and LGA and LGA and DCA. Both airlines catered to the briefcase travelers with open 2-2 seating, 35″ or 36″ seat pitch, and free cocktails. Delta’s service (I think) was every hour on the half hour, and USAir ran every hour on the half hour (if memory serves me correct). There often were two or three sections of rush-hour schedules. Anyone who showed up was guaranteed to go, even if a section operated with one or two pax.
Wondering why it took an ex-airline exec to show this opportunity to the Amtrak bureaucracy..
New amenities? Like the chintzy “contemporary dining” options now standard on the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited?
The proposed nonstop operation between Washington and New York should have been done the whole time Acela Express had been running. Nonstop operation between Boston and New York should also be implemented. New York would be the only intermediate stop on the 456-mile Washington – Boston route.
An observation and a question – 1. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a new schedule announced with the destination arrival time qualified with the word ‘about’. 2. Haven’t been able to verify this, but I’ve read that when nonstop NYP – WAS service was tried with the Metroliners, they went around 30th Street Station in Philadelphia via the High Line, which was the only time except for Army-Navy football specials that passenger trains traversed those tracks. Is this true?
This is half of a good idea. The non-stops should be mirror images; one in EACH direction AM and PM. It’s worth a try; if it doesn’t work, then as before, they will add stops.
Schedule is 5 minutes longer than the PC ran in 1970. Progress……
New amenities to be announced? Heck; I’d think not having to stop in Philly would be amenity enough! 😉
When they say “nonstop”, they mean no “scheduled” stops………..