I love the concept of the acela and I have always wanted to ride it but anytime I try to book a ride a few things always put me off.

1. It is sooo expensive. A ticket costs anywhere from 120 to 350 dollars.
2. The travel time is still 4 hours which means the track speed is slow. It’s ~220 mi from Boston to New York. So the travel time should be at most 3 hours.
3. Now if I want to take the acela I have to drive from my home to Boston south station which is 40 minutes away. Or i take the commuter and then the T (Boston metro) which takes 1.5 hours.

It takes 4 hours and a half tank of gas (~$35) to take me and my family to New York City. So there’s literally no reason for me to pay hundreds of dollars to take the train. We usually just park up in a garage in the city and use the subway once we get there and even that ends up being just a fraction of the cost of taking the acela.

They are replacing both of them? Bold....

Top speed at 160 mph (approx 250 kmh). Not bad, US. Could be better but not bad. I couldn’t find specifics on how much faster the travel would get, but considering my personal and anecdotal experience with Amtrack, any new train is welcome.

A new era of high-speed rail to begin between Boston and Washington, DC

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.