Riding the ACES train to Atlantic City

[mirrodie]

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/non_aviation/read.main/2254041/

[eric8669]

Nice report Mario. Next time I go I'll try it.

[Matt Molnar]

Looks like fun. I wasn't even sure they were still running it...they had a big ad campaign when they launched the service last year but haven't heard a word of publicity about it since. And what's up with the $11+ liquor...sheesh.

[NIKV69]

Now they just need to run to Foxwoods and they will be perfect.

[USAF Pilot 07]

I contemplated taking ACES a few months ago when I had to go from AC to NYC, but the train only runs 3 times a day it seemed like and none of the times worked for me. I think they have one train in the morning and two in the afternoon/evening.

Also, the price was a little higher than I had hoped and it was scheduled to be about the same time overall that the bus takes. I ended up going with Greyhound, which was like $20. They have their new buses running the line, with leather seats, power outlets at each seat and wifi. To be honest, it was a very nice ride.

The only drawback with the bus is dealing with traffic, especially during the summer, and especially once you get towards the city and approach B&T traffic. The problem with ACES is that it basically runs all the way down the North East Corridor line, past Trenton, continues on the CSX/Septa line to Philadelphia. Not only do you deal with the standard NEC delays, but in north Philly, it stops and changes direction - the problem area that arises sometimes is once it switches direction, it runs on the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line (that has service from Philly to AC), which is single track operation. So, if an "inbound" (towards Philly/NYC) train is running late or has issues on that line, you get held in North Philly waiting for that train to make it over the bridge to clear the line.

I would imagine that most of the time, especially on weekends, everything runs pretty smoothly though. I'd definitely give it a shot in the future...