Yeah I had a commute through Boston US and the subway took 40-45 mins including 5 mins walk each end and the bike took 30-33 mins door to door. Subway was 50-70 for a while there when overdue critical repair work was ongoing. The subway route was straighter too.

A subway is the American word for metro surely? And London’s is generally called The Underground.

This would make sense if anyone was going to ban all cars, when generally the idea is to drastically scale then back for when they’re necessary while making less inefficient modes more useful and attractive.

Looks like they have reasonable height windows, unlike the weird little slit windows that Amtrak typically has for some reason. I’ve always assumed it’s to minimize greenhouse effects, because maybe nobody was able to imagine blinds or heat-reflective glass used elsewhere.

While Amtrak trains always seem crude and old fashioned compared to modern trains in other countries, one thing they’ve always been is very comfortable and spacious. I’m a little concerned by 27% more seats - is that the end of the generous space?

I’m probably unlikely to find out for a while, because faced with the usually dramatically higher prices for ~20% shorter journey times, I usually choose the cheaper, slightly slower standard Amtrak service instead of Acela. It’s a testament to the benefits of rail that even the rickety slow Amtrak trains are often still a good option for the few journeys they serve.