>>2020649Acela SHOULD be ~10-20mph faster as well. But even with that, depending on the time of day acela can actually take longer than the north east regional. And it's not due (solely) to station stops.
Assuming you take the 8:00AM Acela from NYC to DC you get to DC at 11:01AM with 6 stops (Newark, Metropark, Philly, Wilmington, Baltimore Penn, and BWI)
Assuming you take the 7:25AM North east Regional from NYC to DC you get to DC at 10:46AM with only 5 stops (Newark, Trenton, Philly, Wilmington, Blatimore Penn)
So you save ~15 minutes on acela but stop at one extra station.
In the opposite direction you can take the 7AM NRE from DC to NYC and get there at 9:52AM with 5 stops (BWI, Baltimore Penn, Wilmington, Philly, Newark) But acela is even worse in that direction in the morning, 7AM departure gets you to NYC at 10:02AM with 5 stops (BWI, Baltimore Penn, Wilmington, Philly, Newark)
So even with both trains only hitting 5 stops on the way, NRE is still ~10 minutes faster for the 7am trips from DC.
