The train eased up to 160 miles per hour just after sunrise on Thursday, its electrical whir fading to the background as passengers watched the marshlands and backyards of coastal New England blur together outside the window.
On board, every surface gleamed — the windows were spotless, the seats uncreased. A faint new-car scent lingered as the train hummed south.
The moment was a decade and $2.35 billion in the making for Amtrak, which in 2016 teamed up with the French train manufacturer Alstom to replace the aging rail fleet that operates as Acela, Amtrak’s premium, high-speed service in the Northeast Corridor. Now, as the first commercial trip of the new service, called NextGen Acela, departed South Station in Boston en route to Washington, the energy among passengers felt almost giddy. No matter that it was barely 6 a.m.
“It’s very special and unique to be here to take part in an inaugural high-speed train,” said Ben Wang, a transit enthusiast who traveled from San Jose, Calif., to be on the first run. “It’s quiet. It’s smooth. I love it.”
Speedier, Yet Somehow Slower
With larger windows, faster Wi-Fi, grab-and-go food options and power outlets at every seat, the NextGen trains offer riders a markedly more pleasant experience than the original Acela. Additional features like live location tracking on ceiling-mounted screens and self-checkout in the cafe car will debut in the coming weeks.
The new trains are not, however, meaningfully faster, and still lag far behind high-speed rail in countries like China, Japan and France, where trains can surpass 200 m.p.h.
While NextGen Acela has a top speed of 160 m.p.h. — 10 m.p.h. faster than its predecessors — its timetables have not changed. In fact, on the first day of operation, the fastest scheduled NextGen service from Boston to Washington was set to take 7 hours 4 minutes — 24 minutes slower than the fastest service on an original Acela train. (It’s normal for route times to fluctuate throughout the day, and Acela is generally more than an hour faster than Amtrak’s standard Northeast Regional service.)
Passengers seemed to be enjoying those extra 24 minutes on board.
“If I was in a big rush maybe I’d mind,” said Elodia Garnett Perry, who was traveling to her high school reunion in Delaware. She shrugged, surveying the cafe car. “Everything looks so nice. I’m trying to get my grandkids to take a ride with me.”
Several passengers pointed out that even though the difference between 150 and 160 m.p.h. was impossible to discern by looking out the window, the ride felt noticeably smoother.
Acela’s speed depends less on the train itself and more on the rail infrastructure. Curves, outdated signal systems, track congestion, and bridges and tunnels in need of repair keep Acela from reaching its top speed on all but about 71 of the route’s 457 track miles, according to Amtrak.
Railway officials expect to update the timetables as engineers fine-tune the new trains’ systems, though even then, the time savings will add up to just a few minutes. Bridge and tunnel construction projects set to be completed in the coming years may shave off a little more time, too.
Joining the ‘Acela-bration’
NextGen Acela made its public debut on Wednesday, with a noncommercial trip from Washington to Boston. Sean Duffy, the U.S. transportation secretary, held a news conference at Union Station in Washington before he and Roger Harris, Amtrak’s president, took a ceremonial ride.
When the train pulled into South Station in Boston that evening, an “Acela-bration,” as Amtrak called it, awaited, complete with a rendition of “Uptown Funk” played on the helicon, a type of tuba.
Philip Palombi, an Amtrak engineer for more than 20 years, drove the new train to Boston on Wednesday. His verdict? The new controls would take some getting used to.
“It’s a lot more technology — what we look at to drive the train is completely different for us,” Mr. Palombi said.
The inaugural passenger run on Thursday mostly went off without a hitch, aside from a briefly jammed door and an “extremely large bird” that had to be cleaned off the front windshield.
Train enthusiasts gathered on board, swapping facts and filming every detail. Mr. Wang attached a camera to his window in first class to make a time-lapse video of the entire journey.
Still, the brand-new train caught some passengers by surprise.
“When it pulled up, I said, ‘Well, this is straight out of Europe,’” said Shannon Duescher, who was on her way home to Washington from a concert in New Jersey.
Manav Shah, traveling to visit family in New Jersey from his home in Boston, also compared it to trains in Europe and said he felt “Amtrak has finally stepped up its game.”
NextGen trains share technology with a model of high-speed T.G.V. trains in France, according to Alstom, which also makes the T.G.V.
The train made 10 stops, including in New Haven, New York and Philadelphia, where five other NextGen trains sparkled in a rail yard near the station.
Getting to the ‘Right Place’
The original Acela fleet, introduced in December 2000, is well past its prime. As repair work piled up, some trains were taken out of service to be “organ donors” when the rest of the fleet needed spare parts, said Jim Mathews, president of the Rail Passengers Association, an advocacy group that aims to improve passenger rail service in the United States.
The time saved on maintenance between runs of NextGen trains could allow Acela to add a new daily departure slot, Mr. Mathews said. And with 82 more seats per train, Acela will be better positioned to accommodate expanding ridership, which Amtrak expects to grow 50 percent by fiscal year 2030.
Upgrades on the route were long overdue, a reality that Amtrak officials readily admit. NextGen Acela faced years of delays, in part resulting from a dispute between Alstom and the Federal Railroad Administration and supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The trains, manufactured at Alstom’s facility in Hornell, N.Y., were built with parts from more than 180 suppliers in 29 states. Amtrak is beginning service with five NextGen trains and is set to receive 28 by 2027.
Anthony Coscia, the chair of Amtrak’s board of directors, said nothing would more effectively shift public perception of Amtrak than the experience of stepping on board.
“Everybody who rides this train is going to feel like we’re getting to the right place now,” Mr. Coscia said.
The NextGen trains also have improved accessibility features for people with disabilities, including all wheelchair-accessible restrooms and, once the screens are configured, audio and visual announcements in every car.
A Long-Awaited Arrival
After just over seven hours, the inaugural train arrived in Washington with little fanfare compared with the previous day in Boston. Some riders posed for photos in front of the sleek electric locomotive and peeked into the operator’s cabin before wandering into the station.
But soon enough, a new set of passengers began to stream onto the train for the return trip. Amtrak employees lined the platform entrance, waving Acela signs. One blew a train horn and pumped his fist.
Then, right on schedule and with its characteristic bell chiming, the train pulled out of the station, glided around a turn and began to pick up speed.
Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2025.
Gabe Castro-Root is a travel reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
Hiroko Masuike is a New York-based photographer and photo editor for The Times.
The post Sleeker, Comfier, a Tiny Bit Faster: Riding Amtrak’s New Acela appeared first on New York Times.
