Faster than a speeding bullet? Not yet, but pretty darn good

The Boston Herald

Beverly Beckham

ABOARD AMTRAK'S ACELA - It's the new train. Well, not really the new train but not the old train, either. Because this new and improved new-old train promises to get me to New York's Penn Station in three hours and 40 minutes, the speed of sound compared to past trips.

I am a veteran of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Express, which is somewhat like the Pony Express, in that it used to mean fast but has come to mean slow. Before Amtrak began electrifying its rails to New Haven, it took five hours on average to get its trains from Boston to New York. For the past few years it has taken even longer because of delays due to work on the rails. Now the work is done - or almost done. Amtrak promises that its new-new trains built for high speed will be on the tracks in a few months, cutting the trip's time even more.

For now, though there is this new-old train, twice a day, morning and night, and this is not bad. My train arrived Thursday at the Route 128 station at 6:33 a.m., just three minutes late. The station, new and bright and clean, is a far cry from the old, no-frills, right-out-of-Casablanca outpost. The parking lot is new, too, covered and big, no problem getting a space, and just $ 3 a day. And the walk from the station to the train is no longer over rutted, unprotected ground but through a door, onto a platform, right onto the train.

I took a seat, relaxed and enjoyed. Well, I did change my seat, but I enjoyed doing that, too. I enjoyed walking around or sitting and being rocked because motion on a train is soothing, not terrifying, not turbulence, not "Please return to your seat and fasten your safety belts."

So here's my report, from the road - or rails, to be specific. Having driven to New York (definitely stressful), flown (expensive, uncomfortable and a hassle) and taken the bus (no comment), I give the new-old Amtrak service an enthusiastic thumbs up.

The seats are comfortable whether in coach or business class. Every seat reclines and there's a footrest and a tray (that's not toddler-size).

There are electrical outlets where you can plug in a computer at every business class seat. There are some in coach class too. You can use them at any time throughout the ride. No shutting off computers for take-off and landing.

A note about business class. It costs $ 20 more than coach, boosting the $ 56 one-way fare (some discounts are possible) to $ 76 (the faster trains to come later will charge more). The reservation agent I spoke with explained that in business class the seats are bigger (see above), you get free nonalcoholic drinks (which means lots of coffee), and of course there's that guaranteed electrical outlet. I booked it, but I won't do it again. The seats are minimally bigger, free drinks were eliminated Jan. 31 (the reservations agent didn't seem to know this), and the car was almost unbearably overheated.

Cell phones are welcome. No being forced to use the airline's overpriced phones. If you hate the sound of people talking off their cell phones, do not, repeat do not take business class.

You can move on the train. There is space to move to. I sat in the dining car, another good thing, dining, and there was a place to do it. Which leads me to food.

Food - there is some. I had a raisin bagel, fresh and heated in a microwave, and coffee that tasted like coffee. In the past I've had hot dogs and beer (not in the morning), and though bagels and hot dogs are hardly an epicurean delight, they sure beat the foiled food, when there is food, on the airlines.

Sure, "dining car" implies tablecloths and china, and there is neither. However, there are two cars of dinerlike, roomy booths where you can sit and eat or just sit and look out the windows. And the windows are huge, not tiny portholes.

The view is spectacular. A man in business class took a picture of the sunrise Thursday morning, that's how spectacular it was. If you're headed to New York, sit on the left side of the train. If you're traveling north, sit on the right. The train hugs the coast and the view, for most of the trip, is water and marsh and boats and trees and pretty New England towns.

Until you reach the city, which we did, on time, at exactly 10:10 a.m. We pulled into Penn Station into downtown Manhattan, not LaGuardia (30 minutes and yet another $ 30 away), not into a $ 35-a-day parking garage, and not into the dreadful Port Authority Bus Terminal.

I'm actually not dreading the return trip home.