Amtrak announced the launch of Acela Nonstop, a new offering with direct service between Washington Union Station (WAS) and New York Penn Station (NYP), beginning Monday, Sept. 23, with tickets now available.
The initial weekday only schedule includes one southbound (NYP-WAS) and one northbound train (WAS-NYP) per day with an approximate trip time of two hours and 35 minutes. The southbound train will depart NYP at 6:35 a.m. and is scheduled to arrive at WAS around 9:10 a.m. The northbound train will depart WAS at 4:30 p.m., and arrive at NYP around 7:05 p.m.
“The new Acela Nonstop service will have you halfway to your New York City or DC destination in the time it would take you to board a flight,” said Amtrak President & CEO Richard Anderson. “This new service will offer an ideal solution for travelers who want to save time and travel between city center DC and New York.”
Amtrak is finalizing details on new amenities, which will be announced closer to the launch date. In addition, the standard Quiet Car, Café Car and First Class services will be offered on Acela Nonstop so customers will not miss any of the popular features available on current Acela service.
The Acela Nonstop service comes in advance of the 2021 launch of brand-new Acela trainsets. The next generation of Acela trains, which are also expected to offer nonstop service between Washington and New York and New York and Boston, are being assembled at Alstom’s facility in Hornell, New York, and will begin initial testing later this year and into 2020.
While the Acela Nonstop is currently only available once per day between NYP and WAS, Amtrak will be weighing potential expansion in terms of location and frequency. In its 2018 Fiscal Year, NYP and WAS were Amtrak’s top two busiest stations across the national network.
