Acela: "we're out of capacity"

Railway Age, Sept, 2008

Amtrak's popular Acela Express high speed Northeast Corridor trains have become so crowded, especially during peak travel periods, that the passenger railroad says it needs to add coaches to the trainsets, which thus far have been fixed at five coaches, a cafe car, and two power cars (one on each end of each consist).

"We're out of capacity," Amtrak President Alex Kummant says. While Acela's 32 daily departures are protected with 20 trainsets, including up to two spares, it would be unadvisable and difficult to break up the spares to add coaches to the other 18 sets. Plus, there's no funds right now to pay Bombardier and Alstom to build additional Acela coaches. Amtrak is looking at several funding mechanisms, among which are raising fares or imposing a surcharge on each ticket. The latter option, Amtrak says, is not under serious consideration.