Love how they mention they’re built in the US by union workers…likely at 10x the cost of making them elsewhere. Modern day unions in the US is not what you think they are. They are the reason why we can’t have fast infrastructure upgrades. People in Japan/Korea/EU figured it out why can’t we have them here in the US?
Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
21–30 of 69 posts
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#22The fact they don't mention they are any faster is disappointing. I'm all for a better cabin experience (I take the Acela at least once a month) although first class was perfectly acceptable. Much better than flying.
Trains compete with highways, faster speed usually isn't the deciding factor.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#23What is "5G-enabled Wi-Fi"? Does that just mean the train receives its connectivity via 5G and broadcasts Wi-Fi?
Sure appears that way. Wish they used Starlink. 5G cuts out at high speeds.
I've used some of those WiFi services at near 200mph, so I guess it'll depend on the 5G, LTE or HSPA frequencies it connects to. They're never great, though, although I guess that's also related to tunnels and the quantity of people aboard.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#24The fact they don't mention they are any faster is disappointing. I'm all for a better cabin experience (I take the Acela at least once a month) although first class was perfectly acceptable. Much better than flying.
The new trains can go to 160mph, which is slightly faster than the old ones. But...Acela's speed is really limited by the safety of the tracks not the train sets. I remember when they were testing 155mph service in 2010, but they could only do it on tiny sections of the track. Sadly it only really gets faster once they fix the infrastructure like bridges.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#25“More seats: 27% more seats per departure” I think trains are cool. I hope this train doesn’t feel like a budget airline that has no leg room.
Acela is the premium route, so they will likley have pretty good leg room.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#26Love how they mention they’re built in the US by union workers…likely at 10x the cost of making them elsewhere. Modern day unions in the US is not what you think they are. They are the reason why we can’t have fast infrastructure upgrades. People in Japan/Korea/EU figured it out why can’t we have them here in the US?
Sorry, but EU workers commonly have unions.
Edit: To extend a little bit, just saying that unions aren't the main problem with not having better public infrastructures in the US. Also, unions models are different outside of the US. I don't have a lot of information about US unions, but I've felt like the model is a lot more individualistic and closed to the sector they're working for, and in Europe go hand in hand with global workers unions.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#27Love how they mention they’re built in the US by union workers…likely at 10x the cost of making them elsewhere. Modern day unions in the US is not what you think they are. They are the reason why we can’t have fast infrastructure upgrades. People in Japan/Korea/EU figured it out why can’t we have them here in the US?
Sorry, but EU workers commonly have unions. Edit: To extend a little bit, just saying that unions aren't the main problem with not having better public infrastructures in the US. Also, unions models are different outside of the US. I don't have a lot of information about US unions, but I've felt like the model is a lot more individualistic and closed to the sector they're working for, and in Europe go hand in hand wi…
Yeah that’s my point. You guys have good unions.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#28Great news! I hope prices go back down a bit thanks to the extra capacity. I used to take Acela 3 times a week about a decade ago and they were rarely completely full. Now they're more expensive and fully booked much of the time, which is a real shame.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#29> “NextGen Acela is more than a new train—it’s an evolution of travel,” said Amtrak President Roger Harris. Everyone's using ChatGPT these days.
AI is trained on exec speak scattered all across common crawl.
Re: Amtrak NextGen Acela Debuts on August 28
#30What is "5G-enabled Wi-Fi"? Does that just mean the train receives its connectivity via 5G and broadcasts Wi-Fi?
Yeah train wifi is generally terrible. Basically the only real solution is 100% 5G coverage along all train tracks or starlink. This is basically a global issue because line-of-sight for trains is a hard problem.