WASHINGTON — Amtrak announced today that the first five Next Generation Acela trainsets will begin operating over its Boston-Washington Northeast Corridor on Thursday, Aug. 28.
Information regarding which departures will be new Acelas and when they can be booked was not initially revealed.
“As the official launch date approaches, customers should look for more information from Amtrak about how to locate and select the NextGen Acela train options,” Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams says. “In the coming months, Amtrak will be operating both the current Acela equipment and the NextGen Acela trains as the new trains transition into the fleet.”
In an employee advisory, Amtrak President Roger Harris noted that the first five train sets will be joined by an additional 23 sets through 2027.
“From a business perspective, we often talk about the urgent need to drive ridership and revenue. This is especially true in the Northeast Corridor, which is our one service line that generates a profit,” Harris wrote. “Our NextGen Acela is going to be a big driver for this growth. The new fleet is going to give us more trains, more service, and 27% more seats per departure. This is truly big for us.”
Amtrak signed a contract with Alstom to build the new fleet in 2016. Trains visited Alstom’s Hornell, N.Y., facility in June 2019, while the first trainsets were under construction.
Testing at the MxV Rail’s Pueblo, Colo., test track was followed by what has become more than four years of Northeast Corridor testing to confirm that the trainsets will meet contractual performance specifications.
Most recently, test trains have been operating several times per week as No. 887 westbound to Washington and No. 888 eastbound to Boston.
“To date, Alstom and Amtrak have successfully conducted more than 1,000 test runs, clocked over 225,000 miles of testing on the Northeast Corridor, and initiated training for more than 3,000 Amtrak personnel to operate, service, and maintain the new trains,” Abrams says.
But neither Amtrak nor Alstom have explained what issues needed to be addressed or what modifications have been made as a result of the tests.
