As Amtrak prepares to launch the new Acela trains on August 28, 2025 (next week!), we now have the train’s schedules, which are live for booking on Amtrak.com and the Amtrak app.
Amtrak will begin with 5 sets of the NextGen Acela trains, and will put more in service in a phase-in approach. This will allow them to retire some of the original Acela trains that are in the worst shape, and they will go from there.
The train numbers are:
- Weekdays: 2153, 2154, 2170, and 2173
- Saturdays: 2250 and 2251
- Sundays: 2248, 2258, 2259, and 2271
This means two trains in both directions on Weekdays and Sundays, and one train in each direction on Saturdays. All of these trains will run between Boston and Washington DC.
My understanding is that Amtrak will keep two sets as the spare, one in Boston and one in Washington DC, so in the case that an operating train has to go out of service, they can quickly dish in the replacement train. These new trains have much more capacity and a slightly different seating chart, so it’s difficult to swap from a NextGen Acela passengers back to a first-gen Acela.
When booking, look for the “NextGen” label when selecting the train.
The seat map has been updated as well for those trains. First Class is car 1, and Business Class spans from cars 2 to car 9. The Quiet Car will be car 9, which is a change from the first-gen Acela trains, which had its located in car 2, adjacent to First Class.
Based on this, you can get a sense of the amazing increase in capacity. The first-gen Acela train sets had five business class cars total, while these new trains will have eight business class cars in total (remember to account for the cafe car located in the middle).
Featured image by Amtrak.
