(The following article by India Autry was posted on the Newsday website on July 13.)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s high-speed Acela Express train began limited service throughout the Northeast on Monday, three months after cracks in the brake discs halted the train in April.
Trains newly equipped with redesigned brakes leave New York and Washington at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, Amtrak said. They leave once each afternoon, at 3 p.m. for New York and at 4 p.m. for Washington.
Service should be increased further within the next few months, said Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy O’Connell.
Tracey Shellhammer, a fitness coordinator for a Philadelphia law firm, said the limited schedule fit her needs perfectly. She takes a 4 p.m. train from Washington to Philadelphia every Tuesday.
Shellhammer, 37, said she was upset when Acela went out of service in April.
“Obviously, I want to be safe,” she said. “But I was just concerned if I was going to be able to get down here as quickly as before.”
Like 95 percent of Amtrak’s customers, she adapted instead of leaving. “I’ve been using Amtrak since I was in college – that’s how I got home. You just make the adjustment.”
Shellhammer turned to Amtrak’s Regional train as an alternative, but she said the trip is about a half-hour longer and significantly noisier. She said she settled on Amtrak’s Metroliner, which was quieter than the Regional and about 15 minutes faster, but it still wasn’t as fast or as smooth as the Acela.
The Acela attracted business people, who tend to be more quiet and focused on work, partly because their employers cover its higher fare, said Kristan Cline, who works for a New Jersey pharmaceutical company.
“For business, I would always prefer Acela – always,” Cline said as she rolled her small carry-on bag through the boarding line. “But if I’m going down for the weekend, spending out of my own pocket, I’d take Regional.”
Bill Becker, 78, a real estate consultant from Teaneck, N.J., has been a longtime rider of Acela, which premiered in 2000, and he said the new brakes created an even smoother ride for him yesterday morning. Amtrak offered him a ticket on the Acela on Monday without charging him the higher fare.