Have they slowed down the NEC?

[MARC Rider]

I went online to book a trip to New York later next month, and, aside from the fact that I couldn't book the $49 2-week advance purchase fare, even though it was quoted on the original et of choices that came up, it seems that the trip is taking a bit longer.

I seem to recall that the travel time between BAL and NYP on the Regional was about 2:20 and that of the Acela Express was about 2:10. All of the choices I had for this Sunday ride were 2:43 for the Regional and 2:20 for the Acela Express. There were even some Regionals that were taking 3 hours for the ride.

What's happening? Are they doing track work? Or are the Sunday trains making more stops? I ;like riding the train but one of the charms of the NEC service is that I can get up to New York in less than 2 and a half hours.

 

[CHamilton]

I wonder if it's related to this.

NJ Transit to alter Northeast Corridor timetables to accommodate Amtrak tie replacement project

New Jersey Transit will implement new rail timetables on June 2 to accommodate Amtrak's long-term tie replacement project on the Northeast Corridor (NEC).


During the project, Amtrak will take one of four tracks out of service on a portion of the line, which will affect weekday and weekend train schedules, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.

Next month, Amtrak crews will begin work on Track 4, the local outbound track (to Trenton), which will be out of service for several months between New Brunswick and Metuchen.
...
To minimize impact on service, NJ Transit designed the new NEC schedule to make the most of the remaining three tracks, keeping one track in each direction open for local service while using the remaining track for express service in peak direction.

The new schedule will be available on NJ Transit's website on Friday.

 

[Acela150]

Sunday rides usually make one or two more stops. And that Tie Replacement program is never gunna end is it??

 

[jis]

Specially considering that starting from next year one track will be out of service between Jersey Avenue and Trenton between March and November. Next year it is the turn of track 1, or so I was told.

 

[NE933]

And when tie replacement is on a relaxed pace, that's the reason it takes forever. I have seen the TLM silent on weekends, which wastes much time to work with less traffic. Amtrak has to get crackin on this.

 

[afigg]

I went online to book a trip to New York later next month, and, aside from the fact that I couldn't book the $49 2-week advance purchase fare, even though it was quoted on the original et of choices that came up, it seems that the trip is taking a bit longer.
I seem to recall that the travel time between BAL and NYP on the Regional was about 2:20 and that of the Acela Express was about 2:10. All of the choices I had for this Sunday ride were 2:43 for the Regional and 2:20 for the Acela Express. There were even some Regionals that were taking 3 hours for the ride.

Your recollection on the BAL to NYP time times for Regionals is incorrect. Regionals are generally 3:20 to 3:30 WAS-NYP, some take longer depending on stops, time of day. With WAS-BAL taking around 40 minutes, the BAL-NYP trip times for Regionals has been 2:40 to 2:50. Looking at the trip times for a couple of random days in June, it appears that some Acelas and Regionals have had 5 to 10 minutes added to the total WAS/BAL-NYP trip times on weekends. Some additional Acela padding on weekdays as well.
The longer times are likely due to the project in Delaware that is adding a 3rd track and the discussed track work in NJ. The NEC may have to get slower before it can get faster.