Acela Express at Boston South Station, 2016.

Intended to compete with airlines for travelers in the Washington-New York and New York-Boston markets, Acela Express trains entered revenue service in December 2000. The Acela Express trainsets were designed and manufactured by a consortium of Bombardier and Alstom. Each of the 20 trainsets includes six passenger cars between two power cars at each end. To prepare for the arrival of high-speed rail service in 2000, the northern end of the Northeast Corridor between New Haven and Boston was electrified, which included the installation of catenary poles, wires and electrical substations.

Boston’s historic South Station, which presides over Dewey Square in the city’s Financial District, opened for service on New Year’s Day 1899. There was then a need to combine the services of the five passenger lines that met in the city’s crowded south side. Upon its completion after two years of construction, South Station was the largest railroad station in the world and the largest structure in Boston. The five-story Neoclassical Revival-style headhouse, noted for its elegant bowed front, was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge.

Photographer: Chuck Gomez for Amtrak. From the Amtrak Corporate Collection.