In 2 weeks I am working in Philly suburbs and then need to immediately head to NYC. I will have a rental car that I can drop anywhere on the NE corridor.

Trenton, Hamilton, and Princeton are the obvious choices but they all appear that I will have to take a cab from the car rental to the train station. It looks like if I drive all the way to New Brunswick there are some rental return options walking distance to the train station but I don't want to go that far if I will be getting into NY traffic.

I could also go to 30th St in Philly. Upside is that I could catch Acela. Downside is that I'd be going downtown right around 6 PM which might eliminate the time savings from Acela.

Total travel time is the number 1 concern.

Travel time is approximately 6-7 PM on a Wednesday night. Any thoughts or suggestions?