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Amtrak's Acela Makes a Primetime Plea to Try Train Travel

Raise your hand if you tuned into NBC last night for the season premiere episodes of Community, 30 Rock, The Office, Outsourced and The Apprentice. If your hand is raised, it's possible that you caught a special travel commercial too, one that certainly made us sit upright and pay attention. The ad began peacefully, showing a train weave through a landscape, but then a voiceover came on to list off many of our current gripes with air travel, and we nodded along:

Why is travel these days about what you give up, and not what you get? Like electricity for gadget power at your seat. Room to stretch your legs and your wingspan. Food when you're hungry. And taking off your shoes only if you feel like it. These aren't luxuries; they're basics. Get them back on Acela.

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Travel Tweet of the Week / Twitter / Twitter Travel / On-Track WiFi / Acela / Amtrak / Train Travel / → All Tags

Tweet Of The Week: WiFi on Acela Trains is Surprisingly Alright

We love Tuesdays. Why, you ask? Because the day brings many travel tips and quips as "Travel Tuesday" on Twitter, and we're going to share our favorite with you. Got an avid travel twitterer we should follow? Let us know.g

It's a sad, yet true, fact that as upgrading technology is forever a race. Now that some airplanes have in-flight WiFi, the rest of aviation is running to keep up. And it can't just be airplanes, but trains too—Amtrak just got wifi on their Acela trains and in select stations, and it's even free. How much longer will it be until automobiles come equipped with their own personal networks so that passengers can surf the web faster on their smartphones?

And although we can now access the internet wirelessly in so many previously unimaginable places, cable and telephone companies like TimeWarner and Comcast continue to confuse and provide service that isn't all that fast unless you opt for the pricey packages. Twitter user @courtneywmay is irked as well:

Acela will have more usable Internet than this office. How sad.

Trust us—there is nothing more frustrating than paying through the nose for internet at home, only to find free service that beats the heck out of yours at places like McDonald's or a bus station. But then we're all for more WiFi everywhere, so we suppose we can't complain too much.

Related Stories:
· @courtneywmay [Twitter]
· Twitter Travel [Jaunted]

On-Track WiFi / Train Travel / WiFi / Amtrak / Acela / Technology / → All Tags

Amtrak Does Something Right! There's Now Free WiFi in Trains and Stations

The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived! Kind of. We mean, it's probably not the biggest piece of news ever, but it's exciting nonetheless and a step forward for USA rail travel when we say that Amtrak's Acela have free WiFi right now! They promised us that they'd have it flowing by March, and we're surprised to see that they were good on their word.

According to the AP, the free WiFi isn't just on the 20 Acela routes, but it's even at a few of their stations. You'll find a free Amtrak signal in the gate areas of Washington Union Station, Baltimore Penn Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, New York Penn Station, Providence Station and Route 128 Station in Boston. They also report that Wilmington Station will get it when they finish up their station renovations next year.

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On-Track WiFi / Amtrak / Train Travel / WiFi / Techonolgy / Acela / → All Tags

Amtrak Will Have Free WiFi Flowing Through Their Trains By March

Woo-hoo! Another victory for the modern traveler as Amtrak has named this the year of free WiFi aboard their Acela trains. To tell you the truth, we knew this was coming, even that it would be free, but we didn't know when it would be completed or if we could even count on it.

Well we can count on it! Amtrak announced that installation of WiFi on the Acela trains (which are the express routes on the East Coast) will be completed by March, as part of a celebration of the Acela's tenth anniversary of service. Other upgrades due for the trains include "leather seats and improved tray tables and power outlets." Score!

But who knows when we'll get to try out the WiFi and outlets; the Acelas are too damn expensive. Yeah right like we're paying $100 for a one-way to Boston when a WiFi and outlet-equipped BoltBus takes almost the same time and costs around $30. Keep trying, Amtrak, but we're proud of your achievements thus far.

Related Stories:
· Amtrak adding free WiFi on Acela Express Trains [USA Today]
· Amtrak Competes with In-Flight WiFi by Adding Internet to Acela in 2010 [Jaunted]
· Amtrak travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: pandoralyrael]

Amtrak / Trains / Train Travel / Acela / On-Track WiFi / Technology / → All Tags

Amtrak Competes With In-Flight WiFi By Adding Internet To Acela In 2010

Alright so how broke Amtrak is and how badly they need more passengers and cash is old and negative news. So how about some good news for train travel? Just a few days ago, it was announced that Amtrak is planning for WiFi on its Acela trains by 2010. This is what their passengers badly need, and hopefully the Northeast's few Acela routes are just the beginning.

2010 may be just around the corner, but frequent Amtrak passengers have been vainly attempting to connect to a network onboard for months now. For instance, when we chugga-chugged our way for fifteen hours (each way) between NY and the Midwest in March. Oh yes, we found an open network or two that moved with our train, but couldn't successfully connect. What's that about?

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Amtrak Gives Acela Fares a Healthy Chop

Funny – we were just bitching yesterday that instead of investing in a tourist-centric Anaheim-Vegas railway, Washington pols should do something about the miserable/overpriced state of Northeast train travel.

Someone at Amtrak must be reading Jaunted comments, because the train service just announced they're chopping the lowest Acela Express fares a whopping 25 percent, following a large drop in ridership throughout the Northeast corridor. We're not sure if that's because of the recession of BoltBus, but either way, we'll take the discount

For tickets bought at least two weeks ahead of travel dates, New York-to-DC fares on the superfast train are down from $133 to $99, and New York-to-Boston seats drop from $93 to $79. Not exactly competitive with those $1 bus fares, but moving in the right direction!

· Amtrak to trim one-way Acela fares by 25% [Boston.com]
· Lohan and Ronson Evidence Amtrak Ascendancy [Jaunted]
· Amtrak coverage [Jaunted]

Photo: [cliff1066]