I noticed that it appears they are only open southbound NYP-WAS, not northbound. I think that makes sense as it protects against delays and missed connections.
Even more importantly this to me appears to be an excellent opportunity to improve the cost recovery of the Long Distance trains on the Atlantic Coast Service. Plenty of additional revenues and even some additional incidental food & beverage as well. I also like the fact that this adds additional scheduling options for travel on the NEC.
In effect Amtrak has just "created" a whole slew of new seats that are priced at a middle tier between the Regionals and the Acelas.
For example:
Currently on July 23rd I have the following Coach/Business options (Business/First in
Acela) departing NYP for travel to WAS from 6:05AM onwards:
- 181 Northeast Regional $84/$125
- 89 Palmetto $145/$186
- 2107 Acela Express $259/$375
I think its great and I also think that capacity will sell to people who absolutely need a seat and can't get on an
Acela. Ironically, 89 departs NYP 10 minutes later and arrives at WAS 10 minutes earlier than 181. I think the other positive here is it makes the Long Distance trains into valuable contributors to the continued fluidity of the NEC by providing extra capacity where needed at a higher tier of service.
Even if this ends up siphoning some passengers off the Acela (instead of from the Northeast Regionals) that only means you're going to end up with higher yields on the Acela due to ticket sales closer to departure times/dates. At the end of the day this means more people riding the Northeast Corridor, using Amtrak and helping them make more money on capacity they are already paying for anyways. Good thinking to whoever helped make this happen. Lets hope that they keep it.