Amtrak's Acela trains are the closest thing Americans have to European-style high-speed trains in the US.
As the fastest in Amtrak's network, they can reach speeds of around 150 miles per hour, nearly double that of local trains. And while a far cry from the likes of the French TGV or the Eurostar, the new Acela non-stop service between New York and Washington only takes two hours and 35 minutes.
It's one of Amtrak's only profitable lines with a primary purpose of shuttling business travelers up and down the Northeast between Boston and Washington, DC, making stops in every major city in between. Acela trains only have two classes of service, first class and business class, and fares are often significantly higher than the slower Northeast Regional.
On a recent trip to Boston, I opted to take Acela to get back to New York instead of flying the 200-mile route. Amtrak was running $20 fares on the train that beat out even the $25 Spirit Airlines flight from Boston to Newark that was on offer, and I wanted to experience the Acela before Amtrak upgrades the line in 2021 with new, faster $2 billion trains from Alstom.
Here's what it was like riding Acela during the pandemic.