Amtrak /4 – Economics

Passenger train services • Main line services / Ticketing • Intercity • USA • Amtrak • Economics

Summary: Acela is Amtrak’s flagship mainline train service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which runs from Washington, D.C., to Boston via 13 intermediate stops, including Baltimore, New York City and Philadelphia. Acela trains can reach speeds of up to 240 km/h on just 54.6 km of the 735 km long route. The rest of the route is operated at lower speeds. The service was called Acela Express, the name given to the 20 trains delivered in 2000 by a consortium of Alstom and Bombardier. This rolling stock is gradually being replaced by new Avelia Liberty trainsets from Alstom. The new trains will have greater passenger capacity and an improved active tilting system, which will allow higher speeds on the many curved sections of the route.

➤ Similar operators: Avanti West Coast – Flixtrain – LNER – Lumo – ÖBB Railjet – WESTbahn

Note: For educational purpose only. This page is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. It is not a substitute for the official page of the operating company, manufacturer or official institutions. It cannot be used for staff training, which is the responsibility of approved institutions and companies.

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Read the full package on Amtrak Acela:

Amtrak → Acela rolling stock → Acela train services → Amtrak economics

Ridership and revenue on Acela trains

The Acela carried more than 2.9 million passengers in the 2023 financial year, just behind the slower and cheaper Northeast Regional, which carried more than 9 million passengers. Passenger numbers are down on the pre-pandemic peak of 3.55 million passengers in 2019, but this is a situation seen almost everywhere in the world.

Proof of the importance of this service is that in 2016, the $585 million in revenue represented 25% of Amtrak’s total turnover, which is far from negligible. By 2023, Amtrak explained that Acela trains had achieved an operating profit of $34 per passenger. However, this was down from $93 per passenger in 2019. 🟧

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