By Laurence Arnold, Associated Press, 12/11/00
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The high-speed Acela Express train, a first for the nation that Amtrak hopes will renew interest in rail travel and lure business travelers from airlines, entered regular service Monday with a trip that began in Washington before dawn and reached Boston by noon.
The snub-nosed train, which has a top speed of 150 mph and seats 304, had 114 people on board when it crawled out of Washington's Union Station, on time, at 5 a.m.
The train picked up additional passengers at stops including Baltimore and Philadelphia before arriving at New York's Penn Station at 7:47 a.m. -- just three minutes behind schedule. The scheduled Washington-New York run is 16 minutes faster than the old 3-hour Amtrak timetable.
The train reached Boston at 11:41 a.m., 10 minutes late, after a ride of three hours, 38 minutes -- about 80 minutes faster than a similar trip a year ago.
"This is a special day," said Amtrak President George Warrington, who boarded the train at its first stop, Baltimore-Washington International Airport. "It took us a long time to get here, and it took us a long time to get America here."
Randolph Becker, a minister from Williamsburg, Va., rode the train from start to end.
"It was my birthday today so I decided to treat myself in style," he said as he exited the train in Boston. "It was fabulous, much faster, and the windows are much larger. You get a great view."
Chronicling the historic trip with two cameras, one for still pictures and one for video, was Bob Rollins, a retired NASA employee from Boonsboro, Md. who became enamored of European-style high-speed trains while working overseas two decades ago.
"It's about time. We need an interstate railway just like we have a highway system," said Rollins, who planned to travel to Boston, have a leisurely afternoon, then take the same high-speed train back to Washington late in the day.
John Lewis, who lives with his family in Washington but just began working for a nonprofit foundation in New York City, said he may make Acela Express his regular means of commuting at the start and end of each work week.
Flying, he said, "is more expensive, and there could be delays. If this works, it's easier."
The eight-car train carrying Acela Express's first paying passengers is the same one that carried VIPs from Washington to Boston on an inaugural run Nov. 16. The train is the first of 20 that Amtrak is receiving from manufacturers Bombardier Transportation of Canada and Alstom Ltd. of France.
All 20 Acela Express trains should be operating by next summer. If the service proves popular in the Northeast, Amtrak hopes to offer high-speed service elsewhere in the country.
