Wilmington-based AmeriStarRail sent a letter to Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner calling on the federally-owned railroad to eliminate the practice of only serving business and first-class passengers with high-speed Acela trains.
Since most seniors, families, students, disabled, and low-income coach passengers cannot afford Acela business and first-class ticket prices, their access to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service is restricted to fewer train services at slower speeds than Acela passengers, a release stated.
Amtrak does run sales that make Acela tickets more affordable.
AmeriStarRail has proposed taking over the operation of Northeast Corridor routes with Acela only trains without changes in staffing. The company claims it can gain efficiencies by revising operations. Amtrak runs slower-speed trains with lower fares on the corridor sometimes as part of its long-distance service.
AmeriStarRail recently proposed a train station tunnel project in Baltimore as an alternative to Amtrak’s plans.
“Amtrak plans to use record amounts of federal infrastructure funding for high-speed rail on the Northeast Corridor, to build and operate high-speed trains. This benefits only the few who can afford to ride Acela trains,” said Scott Spencer, chief operating officer for AmeriStarRail. “Amtrak’s plans to buy new Acela high-speed trains for business and first class passengers only and to purchase a separate fleet of new trains, that will be deliberately operated at slower speeds for coach passengers, denies an opportunity to achieve transportation equity on the Northeast Corridor. This would be as unjust and inefficient as an airline buying new jets for business and first-class passengers only and new propeller planes for their coach passengers.”
In the letter, AmeriStarRail and other concerned stakeholder groups are requesting a meeting with Amtrak, an AmeriStar release stated.
AmeriStarRail is planning to privately finance and operate a new standardized fleet of 160 mile-an-hour trains offering triple-class service of coach, business, and first-class on every Amtrak Northeast Corridor train.
(Correction: The full name of the company is AmeriStarRail and has no connection to HVAC and casino companies with a similar name. An earlier version of the story, at times, referred to the company as Ameristar.)
