Having now been to the US and travelled around a little, I might put up a few thoughts on Amtrak and the new 'high-speed' version.
Going to anywhere in North America is like going back in time, because almost everything is loco-hauled, and this even provided a loco exchange at Albany (when I had run out of film
). The Maple Leaf day train between Oakville and New York Penn ran well, but seemed to take an incredibly long time to get anywhere. Especially the border crossing, which took two full hours with the train just sitting in a siding, as opposed to the Eurostar methods where they deal with 500-1,000 passengers three or four times an hour in a maximum of thirty minutes. We also had some terribly long waits for single-line sections. Catering was not exactly brilliant, but on a par with Intercity. On the other hand, space in second class was better than first class over here, and my 1,000 mile run cost $100 (about £70) which is very competitive. In general, I enjoyed it, but I wish it had been a bit quicker and more efficient.
My Acela run was from New York Penn to Back Bay south of Boston. It was actually very similar to electric Intercity under BR. Despite the extra speed and supplementary fare, it was not all that fast and a Class 91 could probably have kept up with the timetable despite the lack of tilt and 25 mph speed disadvantage. However, they seem to be fettling up the line through the New York suburbs out towards Stamford and New Haven, so expect some speed improvements in a few years. Further along in Connecticut and Rhode Island, it was actually a bit like the Dawlish seawall route, and equally in need of speed increases and bypasses. However, there are some spectacular bridges around Providence, which are worth seeing and travelling over despite the slow speeds required. Catering was not exactly brilliant, but did not need to be, since passengers spend a lot less time on board. Judging by the overcrowding, the service is very successful. I hope that they expand it, perhaps to an hourly operation. This might allow them to remove the supplementary fare. A bit of extra speed should bring New York-Washington and New York-Boston into the three-hour 'day return' range, and make dramatic inroads into the Northeast Corridor air and bus services. Incidentally, there is no tunnel between Boston North and Boston South (despite 'The Big Dig' road project running right past both stations) otherwise the Acela might reach Portland. However, looking southwards we have Charleston, and possibly even Miami (although that is a 12-hour plus run even at 150 the whole way). Westwards we have Pittsburgh, Cleveland and ultimately Chicago. However, I would expect that the other North-East Regional routes would be the next in line for a speed-up.
The most annoying thing about my trip is that someone in Nova Scotia decided to cancel the ferry between Portland and Yarmouth, otherwise I would be able to give you a report on the Downeaster as well.
Going to anywhere in North America is like going back in time, because almost everything is loco-hauled, and this even provided a loco exchange at Albany (when I had run out of film
). The Maple Leaf day train between Oakville and New York Penn ran well, but seemed to take an incredibly long time to get anywhere. Especially the border crossing, which took two full hours with the train just sitting in a siding, as opposed to the Eurostar methods where they deal with 500-1,000 passengers three or four times an hour in a maximum of thirty minutes. We also had some terribly long waits for single-line sections. Catering was not exactly brilliant, but on a par with Intercity. On the other hand, space in second class was better than first class over here, and my 1,000 mile run cost $100 (about £70) which is very competitive. In general, I enjoyed it, but I wish it had been a bit quicker and more efficient.My Acela run was from New York Penn to Back Bay south of Boston. It was actually very similar to electric Intercity under BR. Despite the extra speed and supplementary fare, it was not all that fast and a Class 91 could probably have kept up with the timetable despite the lack of tilt and 25 mph speed disadvantage. However, they seem to be fettling up the line through the New York suburbs out towards Stamford and New Haven, so expect some speed improvements in a few years. Further along in Connecticut and Rhode Island, it was actually a bit like the Dawlish seawall route, and equally in need of speed increases and bypasses. However, there are some spectacular bridges around Providence, which are worth seeing and travelling over despite the slow speeds required. Catering was not exactly brilliant, but did not need to be, since passengers spend a lot less time on board. Judging by the overcrowding, the service is very successful. I hope that they expand it, perhaps to an hourly operation. This might allow them to remove the supplementary fare. A bit of extra speed should bring New York-Washington and New York-Boston into the three-hour 'day return' range, and make dramatic inroads into the Northeast Corridor air and bus services. Incidentally, there is no tunnel between Boston North and Boston South (despite 'The Big Dig' road project running right past both stations) otherwise the Acela might reach Portland. However, looking southwards we have Charleston, and possibly even Miami (although that is a 12-hour plus run even at 150 the whole way). Westwards we have Pittsburgh, Cleveland and ultimately Chicago. However, I would expect that the other North-East Regional routes would be the next in line for a speed-up.
The most annoying thing about my trip is that someone in Nova Scotia decided to cancel the ferry between Portland and Yarmouth, otherwise I would be able to give you a report on the Downeaster as well.
