I say good riddance to the Acela because it is sort of the zenith of the catchy headlines over effective service mentality that has become a mantra at Amtrak. How much money was spent retrofitting shops, upgrading tracks to 150 mph while key bridges, tunnels, and other key chokepoints were left unaddressed? The reality is that the practical advantages over the Metroliner were extremely limited. I would have preferred the effort that has been spent on the Acela have been spent working toward Regionals every 30 minutes from WAS-NYP, or development of feeder corridors in the Northeast. I think the market bears this out too. For at least the last decade, ridership growth on the NER has been much faster than on the Acela on a percentage and absolute basis. Actually, the Acela was pretty stagnant from 2012-2019 and recovery has been less than pleasing. Rationally I think the Acela brought a lot of bark to the system, but no bite. I have also spent a lot of time waiting for them to clear over the years.
That said there is something kind of cool about the trainsets themselves and they did bring a lot of coins into the farebox all while ushering in a new era in American railroading. So, maybe, just maybe they are due a quiet tip of the hat.
