Amtrak’s next-generation Acela trains, the “NextGen Acela,” began operating back in August 2025. I had a chance to ride them in September 2025 in Business Class between Boston and New York and wrote about my experience here.
Since then, I’ve had many rides on American Airlines and on the Northeast Regional when traveling between the two cities, but I haven’t had a chance to hop on the NextGen Acela again.
I got a chance to do so last week, and I got to see how they’ve held up and whether Amtrak has made any changes or improvements since its launch.
Let’s go over my trip.
Boarding at Boston South Station
I had booked Acela train 2155 with a 7:15 a.m. departure from Boston South Station.
South Station recently added fare gates, located right by the MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak platforms.
The gates for my platform were open, so I was able to go right through. If they’re closed, you’ll have to scan your ticket here, so keep that in mind.
Boarding began 10 minutes before departure, and I made my way to car number 5.
Like last time, I think the interiors are overall beautiful. The train is well-lit with a modern design and features large windows.
One thing I hope Amtrak is working on is utilizing those screens above the aisle for something more useful instead of just saying “Welcome Aboard Acela.” Those would be great to include train and route information, but six months since launch, that has yet to be the case.
I grabbed seat 4D, a backwards-facing window seat. On a train, I personally don’t care whether a seat faces forward or backward.
The seats felt fine. I’m not a huge fan of the recline (it’s one of those where the seat slides forward instead of falling back), but I think it’s overall manageable for a 3-4 hour trip.
I placed my carry-on bag and my coat on the glass rack above my seat. These overhead racks have enough space for a backpack or a carry-on-sized suitcase, but they aren’t big enough for anything bigger, like a bigger suitcase that you’d check in on an airplane. The Acela has luggage racks for these larger items at the end of the cars near the doors.
From my experience, this is a standard-size overhead rack I see on Japan’s Shinkansen. Large baggage just isn’t well-suited for short-distance high-speed trains.
Onboard
We departed pretty much on time.
We enjoyed some nice speeds early in this trip, hitting the train’s top speed of 160mph/260kmh for much of the ride through Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
While Connecticut offers nice views of the water along the shore, the old and curvy tracks through the state does not allow for high speeds. This is one of the biggest limitations of the Acela and the Northeast Corridor.
I was working during most of the train ride, and so was pretty much everyone else. It was an early morning on a weekday, meaning it was mostly business travelers and commuters on board. With all the open laptops and meetings going on inside the Acela, I usually find it easy to focus.
I went over to the Cafe Car for a little break and got a snack.
I love Amtrak’s new grab-and-go section in the Cafe Car. It’s convenient to look through and grab something quickly.
It’ll be better when Amtrak can get the self-serve kiosk going in the Cafe Car. It was “Available Soon” when I rode this six months ago, and that’s still the case today. Until they can get this going, the grab-and-go section on the Cafe Car won’t be able to reach its full potential in service.
With that said, wayfinding is great on this train. I love the large car numbers and directions for the Cafe Car.
Onboard Wi-Fi is also fantastic. It was more than enough for me to do work, and these speeds below are enough for social media browsing and video streaming.
We did, however, face a fairly lengthy delay of about 35 minutes. This had nothing to do with the Acela; I believe there was some Metro North train traffic slowing us down.
Indeed, we were crawling through Connecticut, especially between New Haven and Stamford.
Concluding Thoughts
We arrived in New York City about 40 minutes behind schedule. Definitely a lengthy delay; I luckily was in no rush on this day with nothing on my schedule immediately after arrival.
Amtrak gave me a $25 Acela coupon for the delay.
The new trains are still nice, and I’ll take these over the old Acela trains or the Northeast Regional any day. While I think Amtrak can improve a few things, like the self-serve kiosk in the Cafe Car and using the displays above the aisle for something more useful, these trains mostly do the job for a reliable trip along the Northeast Corridor.
All photos taken by the author unless otherwise noted.
