archon

I will be traveling in a few weeks late on a Friday from PHL - BOS. My company will only reimburse me for a coach seat on a regional train. But seeing that it will be Friday, I was thinking of spending the extra cash for a shorter ride and meal on the Acela.

What is the general opinon out there on the Acela service? Is it worth the extra 80 bucks or so?

AlanB

Archon,

First I think we need to be clear regarding just what you are talking about. Regional service largely supplies coach seating, with typically one car dedicated to Business Class (BC).

Acela provides largely BC seating, with one car dedicated to First Class seating (FC).

Now on Acela, only FC seating includes a meal served to you at your seat. If you are in BC on Acela, you will not get any meals, unless you walk to the cafe car and buy the meal with your own money.

On a regional train no meals are provided in either class, but in BC you will get free beverages when you show your ticket stub to the cafe attendant. This is not a perk that extends however to Acela's BC, since 90% of the passengers are BC. Acela does not offer coach seating.

Now, all that said, I for one love FC on Acela. Having a decent meal served to me at my seat, along with all the free booze that I can drink, IMHO is well worth the extra $$$. But each person's tastes and budget is different, so only you can really make that decision.

If you're expecting food that you'd find at the Ritz, or Tavern on the Green, or the Water Club and so on, then you might be happy with spending the extra dough. If you are expecting something comparable to what you might find in first class on an airline, then you'll probably be happy, especially if you want a drink with dinner.

NovaEngr

A matter of semantics, perhaps, but isn't Business Class on Acela actually Coach? There are no perks, no food, no drinks (soft or otherwise), and 2by2 seating with just about the same pitch as Regional Amfleet and less pitch than the old Metroliner coach cars. If it looks like a duck...

Calling Acela Coach, "Business Class" was a marketing move by former Amtrak CEO George Warrington who thought the term would enhance the image of the product and help justify the price tag. He simultaneously applied the tag to Metroliner Coach too with no service enhancements. It may be called "Business Class", but is sure looks like Coach to me.

JT_BOS

It's the same thing the airlines do. On a two-class configuration flight, they call it coach and first, as opposed to coach and business.

Upgrade from Acela business to Acela first costs an extra $87 between PHL and BOS, I think.

The last few times I had meals on Acela first, the pasta was incredibly BAD.

ojodeazul

I LIVE on the PHL-NYP Acela. I think I know almost all of the workers by name. If you are going PHL-BOS on a Friday night if you go Acela, you HAVE to go first. Business is so crowded you end up on top of people left and right and sometimes since the train is coming from WAS it is hard to find a seat in PHL. The 87 is completely worth it. you get a meal and all the free booze you want, which occassionaly for me has equaled the price of "upgrade".

Also, if you go Acela first you get to go to the Club Acela. Which is nice.

I like the regional trains on off times cause you can sleep scross them though.

fastflyer

The OP will get 2 complimentary meals on Acela F if he wishes: meals are organized around rail segments beginning or ending at NYP. So he would be offered a meal PHL-NYP and another meal NYP-BOS.

bitburgr

A quick check on fares for this coming Friday afternoon (5:00-ish) PHL-BOS gives the following results:

Regional Coach: $124
Regional Biz: $160
Acela Biz: $200
Acela First: $287

Getting back to the OP's question about upgrading from regional coach (which is what he said his employer will pay for) to Acela. It's a pretty big jump from $124 to $200 just for a seat with no drinks or meal. And it's a huge jump from $124 to $287 for a seat with free booze and only "decent" meals. I've done regional once (recently) and found Acela Biz to be more comfortable.

I don't see any comments in this thread about Regional Biz, but at most, I would go Acela Biz and buy something at 30th street station in Philly to eat on the train...and still have money left to buy beer on board.

DCAview

Personally, I find Regional Coach more comfortable than Acela Business. I find that the Regional seats are cushier and seem to have more legroom (though I do like the Acela footrests and the bigger windows). Having said that, Acela First beats them all, but it's absolutely not worth a $163 premium over Regional Coach.

Regional Business varies dramatically. When your train is equipped with a club car (in which Business Class is 1 x 2 rather than the standard 2 x 2), it's almost certainly worth the fairly modest premium over Regional Coach. When your train is not equipped with a club car, then Business Class looks a lot like Coach (essentially 2 x 2 with somewhat better legroom and occasional footrests) and is absolutely not worth the premium. Problem is, there's no way to know what quality Business Class you're going to get until the train pulls into the station.

(Of course, you could have the worst outcome, which is when you buy a Regional Business class ticket only to find that the "Business Class" car is a standard Coach Class car with paper signs taped to the door noting that it's supposedly Business Class.)

GWU ESIA STUDENT

You also might get lucky and get a 2x2 Biz Car in coach. This past Sunday I was on the 5:05 Regional NYP-WAS which was sold out with 13 cars; yes 13 cars; and they had the old red interiors, some biz class cars, even an extra cafe car for the seating.

DebbieS

(1) How fast is the Acela on the PHL-NYP tracks?

(2) $287.... isn't it cheaper to fly, then have a $200
meal/booze when you get to BOS?

Thanks!

ojodeazul

the PHL-NYP acela is 1:15 usually, however sometime the Keystone service (which they just expanded) is faster..go figure.

AlanB

Actually the average Acela is around 1:11 minutes, since depending on the number of stops they range from 1:09 to 1:15 running time. The fastest Keystone is 1:20 and most have a running time of 1:30.

To Susan: Acela has a top speed of 135 MPH for a short part of its run PHL-NYP, but the bulk of its run is at 110 to 125, with speed much slower than that at major stations and switching areas.

By contrast the top speed of all other Amtrak trains is 125 MPH no matter what.

ojodeazul

I have been on the Keyston so many times when it was fater than the Acela. I usually take the Acela because I want to eat/drink because it is peak times, but the keystone on the weekend is the way I usually travel because it is just as fast (to me) and the cheapest way to do the route.

AlanB

Well the reality can often be different than the schedule, since there are so many factors that can enter into the equation. Especially since Acela travels much greater distances than any Keystone.

But on the paper schedules there are no Keystones that have a shorter run time NYP - PHL or PHL - NYP, than an Acela Express.

izzik

I enjoy the quiet car on Acela.