ACES train makes NYC to Atlantic City less of a gamble

by Mike Barish on

Summer in New York City is all about weekend getaways. The city gets hot, sticky and smelly. Thankfully, we’re surrounded by beaches to the north (Connecticut), east (Long Island) and south (New Jersey). But only the trip south can add something unique to your beach getaway: gambling. And that’s why thousands of New Yorkers flock to Atlantic City, NJ every summer to enjoy the sand and the slots. And a new express train service is aiming to get people out of the heat and into the action quicker than ever before.

The ACES train makes only one stop in Newark in between New York’s Penn Station and Atlantic City. The train gets you there in under three hours and it’s reasonably priced at $39 each way (with an upgrade to first class for $25 more). It only runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but that’s when most people are heading to AC anyway. I rode the ACES train round trip from New York to Atlantic City last weekend and came away with the following thoughts.
Pros

  • The price really is reasonable for the ease of the trip, limited stops and traffic-free travel.
  • The first class service offers a significantly more pleasant ride and is worth the upgrade.
  • ACES service is 30-60 minutes shorter than any bus service.
  • A free shuttle is provided to-and-from ACES partner properties (Harrah’s, Caesars and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa)

Cons

  • The trains are not scheduled at the most convenient times for maximizing weekend travel plans.
  • Some ACES trains are scheduled to take two-and-a-half hours. Others close to three hours. So the time savings isn’t consistent across the schedule.
  • There are huge gaps of time when no trains run, so if you want to leave Atlantic City later than 10:45am, you have to wait until 7:25pm (on Sundays).
  • There’s no wi-fi internet access.

Overall, ACES is an upgrade over the cramped bus services that many people use for trips to Atlantic City. There’s no traffic and the trains are clean and comfortable. But, at present, the schedule is somewhat inconvenient. I would love to be able to leave AC after my hotel’s checkout time but early enough to get back to NYC in time to unwind before the weekend concludes. And, of course, internet access would make any ride more enjoyable.

I asked the good folks at ACES about the schedule, and they told me that they were somewhat limited by the schedules of NJ Transit and Amtrak, with whom ACES shares tracks. However, they plan to reevaluate their schedule this summer (six months after their February 2009 launch) to see what, if any, changes should be made. I vote for a northbound Sunday train around 4:00pm.

If you’re looking to escape NYC this summer and have a hankering for some roulette, waves and prime people watching, then you’re probably already planning to head to Atlantic City. ACES certainly seems like the best way to get there.

Tourist hangs on to Australian train for hours – records his adventure

by Scott Carmichael on


An American tourist spending some time in Australia just took the ride of his life. 19 year old Chad Vance was stretching his legs on the platform during a crew change stop, when his train started to leave the station – without him on board.

Instead of panicking (and spending the night waiting for the next train), he climbed on board the moving train and spent the next two and a half hours in a cramped stairwell.

Eventually, he was able to get the attention of an employee, who pulled the emergency brakes. At that point, Chad was turning blue from the sub-zero wind. Of course, since we live in a social media world, Chad did take the time to make a video of his adventure, which is posted in the clip above.

He’s lucky they found him on time – the train had another three and a half hours to go till it reached its destination. Of course, his adventure is nothing like the stuff people do as a hobby...

Train from Chicago to Minneapolis news

by Annie Scott on

As a born and raised Minneapolitan, I am very excited about the possibility of a high speed train running between the Twin Cities and Chicago.

“Plans are moving fast to spend more than $1 billion on high-speed rail between the Twin Cities and Chicago,” writes Mike Kaszuba of the Star Tribune. But he warns that we shouldn’t get too excited about the “high speed” aspect; the trains will top out at 110 mph and average 78 mph, nowhere near the 200 mph speeds achieved in Europe and Japan.

Still a lot faster than driving, is what I say. Faster would be better, but $1 billion is already a lot of money in a recession. Let’s just get the thing built.

You know what it would cost to get a 220 mph train? About $33 billion, based on estimates regarding a San Francisco to Los Angeles train (about the same distance). Fat chance we’re gonna get that! Stop fighting, guys. Build it.

$50bn needed to keep train system from going off the rails

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The Federal Transportation Administration believes that $50 billion is needed to repair major metropolitan train systems … and another $5.9 billion a year to maintain them. Railways that need the money, it continues, are in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Together, they carry more than 80 percent of the train passengers in the country – amounting to more than 3 billion passenger trips every year.

We rely on these trains every day, but we aren’t keeping them in top shape. More than a third of the trains in these seven locations have equipment near or past their useful lives. The money needed to remedy problems, however, isn’t coming in. Eight percent of the equipment on these lines is in “poor” condition, with another 27 percent “marginal.”

William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, makes the astute observation: “We don’t need another report – we need greater funding.”

$8 billion stimulus could help revive travel by train

by Karen Walrond on

I’ve always loved trains — I think, primarily, because for most of my life I lived in places where there are few trains. There are no passenger trains in my native country of Trinidad, and here in Houston, where I live now, Amtrak goes to very few destinations. When I finally moved to London for work several years ago, I decided to forgo owning a car, just so that I could travel the commuter train to my job every day. I loved it. And to this day, I dream of taking a vacation traveling solely by train, watching the scenery as it rushes by my window.

Well, thanks to the stimulus package signed by President Obama last month, my dream vacation may become more of a reality. According to a report in USATODAY.COM, within that package is $8 billion earmarked for the Department of Transportation to distribute the money to high-speed rail projects around the country and to Amtrak, the national passenger rail service, to develop high-speed technology. Further, the article continues: “Eleven proposed high-speed rail corridors on the West Coast, Texas, the Great Lakes states, the Southeast, Florida and the Northeast will be vying for a piece of the stimulus money.”

Fantastic. Fingers crossed my vacation dream happens very soon.