OT: Top Speed Announcements
May 7, 2004, 8:09 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
OT: Top Speed Announcements
On a recent morning trip from BOS to NYP everything was going as normal. All of a sudden about 15 to 20 minutes out of PVD, one of the crew comes on the loudspeaker and announces that our train has just reached its "top allowable speed of 150 mph." With the discussions recently around here about top speed, I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this. This is the only time this has happened in my frequent travels so I figure it was just a crew member who wanted to embellish the merits of the Acela rather than Amtrak policy.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 24, 2005 at 7:23 pm
May 8, 2004, 11:43 am
#2
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: PHL
Programs: AA(PPro), UA, AGR, BW(Plat), HH, WoH, MB(S)
Posts: 778
This “we’ve reached top speed” announcement was common in the early launch phase of Acela, but much less so now. In fact, I have not heard that it was even still being done at all until your post. In the beginning, Amtrak touted Acela as North America’s first true “high speed” train. That description was, at best, an exaggeration. Full speed, 150mph operation is only permitted on 18 miles of the trip: an 8 mile section in Massachusetts and a 10 mile section in Rhode Island. The announcement has to be quick. Even the longer 10 mile portion is over in about four minutes. On your entire trip BOS to NYP of over 210 minutes, only about 7 minutes are spent at top speed.
Amtrak, wisely I believe, has shifted the Acela marketing emphasis away from speed to comfort. By any objective measure, Acela is not high-speed rail, particularly between New York and Boston. And between New York and Washington, it is no more high speed than the Penn Central Metroliner of the late 1960’s. But for comfort: there is no comparison. Acela is a great ride.
Amtrak, wisely I believe, has shifted the Acela marketing emphasis away from speed to comfort. By any objective measure, Acela is not high-speed rail, particularly between New York and Boston. And between New York and Washington, it is no more high speed than the Penn Central Metroliner of the late 1960’s. But for comfort: there is no comparison. Acela is a great ride.
May 8, 2004, 12:03 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
I probably missed those annoucements in the early days because I only started needing to use the rails, and therefore Acela, regularly over the past year.
Regarding the marketing, I agree completely. They should stick to the comfort line because there really is no comparison IMO. I think most passengers agree that the speed emphasis is foolish if gauging their reactions to the annoucement means anything (heads shaking). Still, they can stay away from high speed, while focusing on reliability. I would like to see some improvements in the on time performance.
Cheers.
Regarding the marketing, I agree completely. They should stick to the comfort line because there really is no comparison IMO. I think most passengers agree that the speed emphasis is foolish if gauging their reactions to the annoucement means anything (heads shaking). Still, they can stay away from high speed, while focusing on reliability. I would like to see some improvements in the on time performance.
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 24, 2005 at 7:22 pm
May 14, 2004, 5:09 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,473
But those 1-1 seats in Metroliners were had to beat!
Originally Posted by PHLviaUS
Amtrak, wisely I believe, has shifted the Acela marketing emphasis away from speed to comfort. By any objective measure, Acela is not high-speed rail, particularly between New York and Boston. And between New York and Washington, it is no more high speed than the Penn Central Metroliner of the late 1960’s. But for comfort: there is no comparison. Acela is a great ride.