'Acela' Origins

Who among you know the history and origins of the brand name 'Acela'?

I am interested to know how this name came about and why a more classic name was not chosen.

I think the name was a combination of words "Accelerate" and I think "excelence". I remember reading it somewhere. But those were the two ideas behind the name if I'm not mistaken.

MLRR is not mistaken. And I think Mr. Gunn would not have suffered the name's branding company long.

Acela is the brainchild of branding firm IDEO, whose "teams, culture, and methodology are the special ingredients that fuel our approach to innovation and design. We begin with a deep exploration of business, human, and technical factors."

Special ingredients. Deep exploration. It's a miracle we didn't end up with Blabbertrain or Amtripe.

Define classic. Amtrak simply followed a practice established in the, ahem, classic era, which was to coin a new name for new service: Colorado Eagle, California Zephyr, Chessie, Clocker, Metroliner.

Now that the word Acela applies only to the service using Acela equipment, it's a good brand.

No one need argue the name's lack of classicism--given time and endurance, anything can become classic. The trouble with "Acela" is linguistic. Its pronunciation is awkward, and not obviated by its spelling. That leads to problems at the ticket window and hinders the train's word-of-mouth potential.

In a few more years, when "Acela" solidifies into lexicon, this won't be a problem. But I would expect better from a company that claims to deeply explore "business, human, and technical factors."

Pronunciation isn't intuitive? Oh, come now. Maybe to certain speakers of Germanic languages who never eat, say, Mexican food. And then only maybe.

Let's talk about truly nonintuitive pronunciations. Like NYNEX, which later transmuted through merger into an even less intuitive sounder. First time I saw the word Verizon, I thought the accent went on the first syllable, which made it sound like a prescription drug--"ask your doctor about VAIR-i-zon." And don't forget, in Romance languages an lone I is sounded "ee." Now, hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising later, we associate the word Verizon with the pronunciation "ver-EYE-zon." But that's what it took.

Another example: Just before the Texas banking industry imploded in the late 1980s, Mercantile National Bank merged with Southwest Bancshares and took the name MBank. Then had to run a boatload of commercials to burn in the intended pronunciation: "EM-bank," not a rushed rendering of "my bank." And for that matter, the pronunciation "MER-can-teel" wasn't particularly intuitive either.

The pronunciation is clearly not intuitive, as evidenced by the train's most frequently-heard name: ack-SEL-a -- not bourne by the spelling, but easier to pronounce. Other permutations as common as the proper name: a-SEE-la, a-KEL-a, a-SAY-la (assail a what?!). Less common mispronunciations are downright unflattering: ass-a-la, assy-la. And ethnic restaurants don't help. Spanish gives the afforementioned violent a-SAY-la; Italian, a-CHE-la. On the other hand, I've never tried Romanian.

All that's fine when you have Verizon's coffers to ensure the public's proper recognition of your name. But when your campaign is confined mostly to print, you'd better stick to something that makes intuitive sense.

Mexican food is "exotic"? My goodness, we are in danger of leaving the rails. If it's The Greatest City in the World, then why are its residents so provincial? Geez, even out here in the Land of Irrelevance we know how to pronounce the word chutzpah. And chide people for excessive kvetching. Wassamatta, can't New Yorkers be bothered to learn something, well, new? And can't the so-called railfans be expected to do something useful, like help "burn in" that pronunciation?

Duly changed to "ethnic." And for that blunder alone (which also included Italian), I lose.

Had Mr. Gunn's hand been at the throttle circa 1997, I would hazard a guess the service simply would have been named Metroliner II.

The paint scheme would have been a variant of Phase 4, as this has hands down been the "most railroady' scheme of all.

Lastly, those of you who want Mr. Gunn to hang around, better vote for Bush. President Kerry will have his own ideas on who to award this "plum" (i.e. the Amtrak presidency) to.

Signing off with the thought of "Seven US Presidents=Seven Amtrak Presidents"

Count 'em up.

As for voting for Bush, there's no guarantee that he'll keep Gunn in there if he gets a second term. There is certainly a guarantee that Amtrak will not get additional funding as a reward for its continued increases in ridership—if it hasn't happened now, it will never happen, seems to me, unless the USA joins the EU or something.

I recall seeing a GIF-format image of what the AE would look like in Phase IV coloration. IMHO, the look was superior to what the trainsets wear at present. And assuming Gunn's influence regarding the trainset design, could we safely postulate that the "excess four inches" in width that currently makes Metro-North tell Amtrak to shut off the active-tilt between Shell and New Haven would never have materialized? Same goes for doors that cannot be used at low platforms...?

I find this statement indefensible:

President Kerry will have his own ideas on who to award this "plum" (i.e. the Amtrak presidency) to.

Amtrak's presidency is not a presidential appointment, though Amtrak's board is. If there is some proof of the claim that John Kerry would fire David Gunn, I would like to see it.

Matt Fels wrote " Pronunciation isn't intuitive? Oh, come now"

Well, somebody didn't think the pronounciation of the name Acela was intuitive because when the original Amtrak Acela website came out it had a link to a WAV file that featured a woman 'correctly' pronouncing the name "Acela". The link had the tag line 'To learn the correct way to say Acela, click here'.
I still hear people pronounce it "ACK-sella".
I believe that is because the consumer understands that the word is derived in part from the root word "accelerate".
My one and only ride on the Acela happened a few years ago. Washington to NYP. I was amazed at how nice the train seemed. I really felt like Amtrak had gotten the whole program right. The speed was fantastic. I'm sure those of you who ride the NEC frequently can take such a thing as Acela in stride. I'd love to ride it again.
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I still hear people pronounce it "ACK-sella".

In Mesquite, Texas. So? The nearest place to catch an Acela is about 1,755 rail miles away.

In Acela territory, you'll hear people pronounce the correspondent's hometown "MESS-quite." And before the space program, the largest city in Texas pronounced "HOW-stun."

Sorry, Mr. Fels, the defense is in the numbers "7 'n 7".

I'll grant you Mr. Gunn won't be on an Acela "outta Dodge" the way Harry Truman was on the B&O National Limited on Jan 20, 1953 (in line space at that), but the pattern is pretty strong that somewhere during the course of any Administration, the Amtrak presidency has changed hands.

Accordingly, I can only conclude that if there is to be a Kerry Administration, even if only four years in duration, in all liklihood there will be a new Amtrak CEO.