The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium and long-distance inter-city rail service in the contiguous United States and to nine cities in Canada. Amtrak is a blend of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track.
The Acela is Amtrak's flagship high-speed service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, including Baltimore, New York City and Philadelphia. Acela trains are the fastest in the Americas, reaching 150 miles per hour (240 km/h), but only on 33.9 miles (54.6 km) of the 457-mile (735 km) route.
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States both by ridership and by service frequency as of 2013. The NEC carries more than 2,200 trains daily.
The Northeast Regional is an intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the NortheastDirect, Acela Regional, or Regional. It is Amtrak's busiest route, carrying 8,686,930 passengers in fiscal year (FY) 2018, a 1.4% increase over the 8.57 million passengers in FY 2017. The Northeast Regional service earned over $613.9 million in gross ticket revenue in FY 2016, a 0.4% increase over the $611.7 million earned during FY 2015.
The Metroliners were extra-fare high speed trains between Washington, D.C. and New York City which operated from 1969 to 2006. They were briefly first operated by Penn Central Transportation, then by Amtrak for 35 years.
The Clocker was a passenger train service between Philadelphia and New York City on the Northeast Corridor at first by the Pennsylvania Railroad and later by Amtrak. The service was nicknamed the Clocker by riders as trains were scheduled to leave each terminal at the top of the hour. The name was eventually adopted into official use by Amtrak in 1981. The service was briefly renamed Acela Commuter in 1999 before the name reverted to Clocker in 2003. Amtrak discontinued the service on October 28, 2005, and it was partially replaced by New Jersey Transit express trains between Trenton, NJ and New York City at times approximating the Clocker schedule.
The Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station, also known as Wilmington station, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. One of Amtrak's busiest stops, it serves nine Amtrak train routes and is part of the Northeast Corridor. It also serves SEPTA Regional Rail commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as DART First State local buses and Greyhound Lines intercity buses.
Providence station is a railroad station in Providence, Rhode Island, served by Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail. The station has four tracks and two island platforms for passenger service, with a fifth track passing through for Providence and Worcester Railroad freight trains. It is now the 11th busiest Amtrak station in the country, and the second-busiest on the MBTA Commuter Rail system outside of Boston.
The JetTrain was an experimental high-speed passenger train concept created by Bombardier Transportation in an attempt to make European-style high-speed service more financially appealing to passenger railways throughout North America. It was designed to use the same LRC-derived tilting carriages as the Acela Express trains that Bombardier built for Amtrak in the 1990s, which used all-electric locomotives. Unlike the Acela, powered electrically by overhead lines, the JetTrain would have used a combination of a 4,000-horsepower (3.0 MW) gas-turbine engine, a low-power diesel engine, a reduction gearbox, and two alternators to power electric traction motors. This would have allowed it to run at high speeds on non-electrified lines.
In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle:
Plans for high-speed rail in the United States date back to the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965. Various state and federal proposals have followed. Despite being one of the world's first countries to get high-speed trains, it failed to spread. Definitions of what constitutes high-speed rail vary, including a range of speeds over 110 mph (180 km/h) and dedicated rail lines. Inter-city rail with top speeds between 90 and 125 mph is sometimes referred to in the United States as higher-speed rail.
Kingston is a historic railroad station located on the Northeast Corridor in the village of West Kingston, in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. It was built at this location in 1875 by the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad, replacing earlier stations dating back to the opening of the line in 1837. Current rail services consist of Northeast Regional trains in each direction, all of which stop at the station. Historically Kingston provided commuter rail service to Providence and Boston via Amtrak's commuter rail services. The MBTA is looking at extending their commuter service with the Providence/Stoughton Line.
New London Union Station is a historic regional rail station located in New London, Connecticut, United States. Located on the Northeast Corridor, the busiest railway in the United States, it is the primary railroad station in southeastern Connecticut. Union Station is a station stop for most of Amtrak's Northeast Regional trains; the station was formerly served by a small number of high-speed Acela Express trains. Certain CTrail Shore Line East commuter rail trains also stop at New London, making it the eastern terminus of commuter rail in Connecticut.
Mansfield station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Located in downtown Mansfield, it serves the Providence/Stoughton Line. With 1,966 weekday boardings in a 2018 count, Mansfield is the third-busiest station on the system outside Boston.
A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self propelled passenger trains are known as multiple units or railcars. Passenger trains travel between stations or depots, where passengers may board and disembark. In most cases, passenger trains operate on a fixed schedule and have priority over freight trains.
The Hartford Line is a train service run by Amtrak primarily between Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut, along Amtrak's New Haven–Springfield Line.
Avelia Liberty, also known as the Acela II, is a high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 trainsets for use on its flagship Acela service along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., via New York City and Philadelphia.
The Valley Flyer is a train service run by Amtrak between New Haven, Connecticut and Greenfield, Massachusetts along Amtrak's New Haven–Springfield Line and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Connecticut River Line.
The first-generation Acela Express trainset is a unique set of vehicles used on the Acela, Amtrak's flagship high-speed service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States. When they debuted in 2000, the sets were the fastest in the Americas; reaching 150 mph (240 km/h) on 33.9 mi (54.6 km) of the route. They were built between 1998 and 2001 by a consortium of Alstom and Bombardier. Each set has two power cars derived from units that Alstom built for the TGV, and six passenger cars derived from the LRC that Bombardier built for Via Rail.
