Northeast Regional


The Northeast Regional is a regional rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the NortheastDirect, Acela Regional, or Regional. It is the busiest Amtrak route, carrying 8,686,930 passengers in fiscal year 2018, a 1.4% increase over the 8.57 million passengers in FY2017. The Northeast Regional service earned over $613.9 million in gross ticket revenue in FY2016, a 0.4% increase over the $611.7 million earned during FY2015.
There is daily all-reserved service about every hour during the day. Trains generally run along the Northeast Corridor between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., via New York City. Extensions and branches provide service to Richmond, Newport News, Norfolk and Roanoke, Virginia and trains serve Springfield, Massachusetts.
Travel times are about 4.5 hours between Norfolk or Newport News and Washington, 5 hours between Roanoke and Washington, under two hours between Washington and Philadelphia, 1.5 hours between Philadelphia and New York, 3.5 hours between New York and Springfield, and 4 hours between New York and Boston. Travel times between Washington and New York are typically slightly faster than the equivalent travel time by car.

Equipment

Trains usually have 7 to 10 cars with one or two locomotives pulling, although they may be as long as 14 cars during peak travel periods.
The passenger cars are the rebuilt Amfleet I series passenger cars built by the Budd Company in the mid to late 1970s. Since May 2008, Northeast Regional trains have the Café Car in the middle of the train. The Coach Class car adjacent to business class is designated the quiet car, where passengers are asked to refrain from loud talking and mobile phone conversations. If a second Café Car is present, it is only used for passenger seating. The overnight Northeast Regional trains 65, 66, and 67 have a different configuration from the other Northeast Regional trains. These trains offer a limited number of business-class seats at the front of the Café Car, instead of having a dedicated Business Class car. The overnight trains have a baggage car used for baggage service.
Between Boston and Washington, the service has overhead electric wires and largely travels over Amtrak-owned tracks. This segment reaches speeds of with Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotives built from 2012–2015. The ACS-64 locomotives replaced the AEM-7 locomotives in June 2016 and the HHP-8s in November 2014.
Northeast Regional trains operating on the lines in Virginia and the New Haven–Springfield Line use GE P42DC diesel locomotives and have lower top speeds of 110mph. Because the Virginian segments use freight railroad tracks, these trains are more likely to suffer delays due to congested tracks.

History

The services along the line, as inherited from Penn Central, once had their own names, such as the "Yankee Clipper" and the "Federal"; typically a name applied to at most one train and its "twin" in the opposite direction. Electrification ended at New Haven, Connecticut, requiring an engine change. On October 28, 1995, Amtrak introduced the "NortheastDirect" brand for all trains on the Northeast Corridor except for the express and hourly services. The November 10, 1996, timetable restored the old names in addition to the NortheastDirect brand. The names were dropped with the May 16, 1999, schedule. In 2000 Amtrak completed electrifying the route from New Haven to Boston in preparation for the introduction of the Acela Express, thereby eliminating the engine change at New Haven. The first two all-electric round-trips to and from Boston were branded Acela Regional and equipped with refurbished Amfleet cars painted in the Acela-like "Capstone" livery. All-electric service began on January 31, 2000. The NortheastDirect branding continued to be used for trains which changed from electric to diesel traction in New Haven.
Due to customer confusion with the Acela Express, the name was changed again on March 17, 2003, to "Regional" As part of rebranding and service improvements, the name was changed to "Northeast Regional" on June 23, 2008
On May 12, 2015, Northeast Regional Train 188, traveling from Washington, D.C., to New York City, derailed in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia, killing eight people and injuring more than 200 people. The train derailed along a curve and was determined to have been traveling at a speed of about 100 mph, exceeding the limit of 50 mph on that curve. This speed limit was not posted; engineers on that route are expected to rely on memory to control the speed of the train. Additionally, the train was suspected to have been hit by a projectile, as was a commuter train in the area shortly before the derailment.

Virginia service

Some Northeast Regional trains continue into Virginia, serving Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News, Roanoke, and points in between. These tracks are not electrified and are owned by freight railroads; some segments including tracks through Acca Yard in Richmond have severe speed restrictions.
After Amtrak took over intercity passenger service on May 1, 1971, rail service in Virginia was limited to a small number of long-distance trains, where they were often not suited to regional travel. Regional service south to Newport News began on June 14, 1976, when Amtrak ended the Newport News section of the and the was added in its place with two daily round trips from Boston to Newport News via Alexandria, Richmond and Williamsburg. The long-standing service has sufficiently high farebox recovery that no subsidy from Virginia is required.
From 1996 to 2007, six different studies were performed on the Transdominion Express project, which would have created two new intercity rail routes from Bristol to Richmond and Washington. The final study recommended against the full plan, citing high cost and low ridership, and instead proposed that any further action be focused on corridors with the highest ratio of demand to cost. Fully 70% of the predicted ridership was between Washington and Lynchburg and 96% between Washington and Bristol, while Richmond demand was largely for north-south service on the existing route.
Virginia and Amtrak partnered in 2009 under the brand Amtrak Virginia to expand passenger rail service within the Commonwealth, making Virginia the 15th state to fund state services in addition to federally funded routes. One daily Northeast Regional round trip was extended to from Washington to Lynchburg via Manassas and Charlottesville on October 1, 2009, supplementing the existing Crescent service. In the first month, ridership doubled expectations. On July 20, 2010, Amtrak added an additional Northeast Regional frequency from Washington to Richmond Staples Mill Road station, increasing the Washington-Richmond corridor to eight daily round trips with hourly northbound morning service.
A further extension south from Richmond to Norfolk along Norfolk Southern tracks was planned by the Department of Rail & Public Transportation, and the Commonwealth of Virginia in cooperation with Amtrak. Certain track upgrades between Richmond and Norfolk that were necessary to enable this extension were funded jointly by Norfolk Southern and DRPT. Service started on December 12, 2012. A second daily Norfolk round trip on weekdays was added on March 4, 2019. Schedules for the Newport News trains are also being modified to improve service to the Hampton Roads region.
On August 9, 2013, it was announced that Amtrak hoped to complete track and infrastructure upgrades in order to bring train service to Roanoke by 2016. The project encountered delays, and by late 2016 service was planned to begin in late 2017 with a single train extended from Lynchburg serving the city daily after construction of the Roanoke station platform, which was to begin in early 2017 and take most of the year. Amtrak began service to Roanoke on October 31, 2017.
On December 19, 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and rail company CSX Transportation announced a deal to expand rail service in Virginia including Amtrak Virginia service. This deal will include doubling the frequency of Amtrak service between Richmond and Washington.

Classes of service

Effective April 25, 2005, Amtrak abolished unreserved seating on these trains. Reservations may be made at any time up to eleven months in advance, either online or by phone. Tickets may also be purchased at a station ticket window or through a ticketing machine. Starting January 11, 2020, Business Class passengers will be able to reserve their seat in advance, similar to First Class passengers aboard Acela Express trains. Currently, seats are open on a first come, first serve basis.

Route

Most Northeast Regional trains operate over the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington. The corridor is owned, in part, by Amtrak, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Metro-North Railroad, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
Some trips diverge at New Haven and turn north to serve Springfield, Massachusetts, operating over the New Haven–Springfield Line owned wholly by Amtrak. The provides supplemental service along this line, with timed connections to/from certain Northeast Regional trips.
Several trips continue south of Washington D.C. to Virginia, running to either Roanoke, Richmond, Newport News, or Norfolk. All Virginia service uses the ex-Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, now CSX, between Washington and Alexandria, Virginia. South of Alexandria, trains to Roanoke use the Norfolk Southern. Trains to Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News use the following CSX tracks between Alexandria and Richmond:
South of Richmond, trains to Newport News use the CSX Peninsula Subdivision. Trains to Norfolk use the CSX North End Subdivision and Norfolk Southern's Norfolk District.
Until around 1999 some service to Springfield continued east to Boston, for an alternate Inland Route between New York and Boston. One weekend train stayed on this route until the November 1, 2004, schedule.
One train, the Federal, formerly carried an overnight sleeper between Washington and Boston, giving the corridor 24-hour service; the Federal name is no longer used, and an ordinary all-coach Northeast Regional runs in its place.
Amtrak receives federal funding for its operations between Boston and Washington, D.C. Northeast Regional operations south of Washington are funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Operations along the New Haven–Springfield Line are funded by the State of Connecticut and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Station stops