Amtrak Looking To Upgrade Current Acela Passenger Cars
By Justin Udo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Amtrak officials are looking to boost the rider capacity and the speed of their Acela Express train service.
Blair rides the Acela train from Philadelphia To New York a couple of times per months.
Today, at 30th Street Station, he said he is a fan of the Acela trains:
"I love the way it runs. I'm pretty satisfied with it, and I think it's a really good service."
But, he says, it can be a victim of its own success.
"Sometimes it gets real crowded," he explained.
And that's part of the reason that Amtrak has issued a request for proposal ("RFP") that would let the rail agency replace its current Acela train cars with newer models that could hold up to 40 percent more people, raising the capacity of each car to 120 passengers.
Amtrak says not only would the new trains hold more riders, they would also have the potential to cut down on trip time.