My report on the Dec. 4 Amtrak Board meeting in New Orleans included a proposal by Scott R. Spencer, Chief Operating Officer of AmeriStarRail, who proposed rebranding the new NextGen Acela as Libertyliner 250 to honor the 250th birthday of the United States. A relatively simple adjustment to the trainsets’ as-delivered livery, the rebranding would illustrate that the service operates in the region where the War for Independence was fought, and note the equipment’s top speed of 250 kph (155 mph). Spencer also suggested that Amtrak offer a “Freedom Pass” that would allow seven days of unlimited riding on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) for a flat fee of $250.00 per person.
Spencer has now announced that he wants the trains to make a “new” stop on the NEC. The stop is not a new station. It is Secaucus Junction Station, in service for 22 years, and located at the intersection of Amtrak’s NEC (former Pennsylvania Railroad) and the former Erie Railroad New Jersey Transit (NJT) built the station and uses it extensively for its Northeast Corridor Line and North Jersey Coast Line services, and some MidTOWN DIRECT trains on the Morris & Essex and Raritan Valley Lines. Riders on those lines can transfer to trains on NJT’s Pascack Valley and Main/Bergen Lines, including some Metro-North trains that go as far as Port Jervis, N.Y.
I know of only five Amtrak-operated trains that ever stopped at Secaucus Junction: two for Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, which was played at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex and serviced by an NJT branch line (the “Sports Line”); and Amtrak’s funeral train for New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (1924-2013), a longtime supporter of funding for Amtrak and transit.
Spencer wants to change that by making Secaucus Junction a regular stop on Amtrak’s Libertyliner 250 trains, if Amtrak accepts his rebranding proposal. “In the proposed partnership with Amtrak, AmeriStarRail seeks to revolutionize Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service with Libertyliner 250 high-speed service offering Triple-Class service with Coach, Business and First Class seating on every train,” he said. Triple-Class service means that AmeriStarRail would offer coach seats as well as Business Class and First Class seats, so coach passengers would not have to settle for a longer ride on Amtrak’s Northeast Regional trains. He said that the Secaucus stop would offer improved access to “NJ Transit Pascack Valley Line, Bergen/Main Line and Metro North Port Jervis Line trains, NJ Transit trains to Hoboken Terminal, the American Dream entertainment and retail center—the second-largest mall in America, MetLife Stadium and the Meadowlands Sports Complex, home of the FIFA World Cup 2026.” While all those locations are currently accessible on NJT trains, existing operations require an extra segment on an NJT train to get to Secaucus from any station on the NEC where Amtrak trains stop.
Spencer proposed the concept in a Dec. 15 letter from AmeriStarRail to Amtrak President Roger Harris (download below). He calls the Libertyliner 250 trains “The Fastest Trains in America” and presented the slogan “The Libertyliner 250: All Aboard for a Revolutionary Way to Travel on the Northeast Corridor.” He introduced his proposal by saying, “To build on Amtrak’s record Northeast Corridor ridership, AmeriStarRail [is] pleased to share with you … our proposed privately funded partnership and the Libertyliner 250 Service Plan to increase Amtrak’s NEC service 35.1% and seating capacity 21.3% by May 2026. This will finally provide Coach seating on all Amtrak high-speed trains so that senior citizens, families, students, persons with disabilities and low-income coach passengers can have affordable and equitable access to High-Speed Rail service in America for the first time in our history.”
The Service Plan would include hourly New York-Washington nonstop trains, as well as hourly Boston-Washington trains that would stop at Secaucus. Regarding the Secaucus stop, Spencer said, “With the opportunity to serve more than 1,000 new Amtrak passengers a day, AmeriStarRail projects that Amtrak Libertyliner 250 service at Secaucus Junction will add at least 365,000 annual passengers to NEC ridership, which is more than the annual ridership of many Amtrak long distance routes around the country.”
The Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce is on board. “The Meadowlands Regional Chamber has long advocated for Amtrak stops at Secaucus Junction,” President Jim Kirkos said. “The AmeriStarRail proposal could open the Boston, D.C. and Philly markets to our regional destination, which is of real interest to us.”
Some local advocates support the Secaucus stop. “The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJ-ARP), for more than 20 years since the construction of Secaucus Junction, has been encouraging Amtrak to stop selected Acela and Northeast Regional services at Secaucus Junction,” said Albert L. Papp, a longtime NJ-ARP and Lackawanna Coalition member, told Railway Age. “Amtrak would be able to provide access to potential riders in Bergen and Passaic Counties, leading to an increase in ridership and associated revenues. Amtrak has steadfastly refused to do this, claiming that stopping trains at Secaucus would cause train timings to increase. This does not make any sense, because all its Northeast Corridor trains stop at Newark Penn Station, about five miles west of Secaucus Junction. Amtrak needs to focus more on the revenue side of the equation, rather than the cost side, and grow the business, rather than restrict it.” Papp clarified that he is not advocating for any cuts in service at Newark, only for adding the Secaucus stop.
Lackawanna Coalition Chairperson Sally Jane Gellert, who lives in Bergen County, told Railway Age: “I can’t be the only passenger who sees Amtrak trains running through Secaucus without stopping, thinking about my Amtrak trips that mean extra travel to New York City or Newark Penn Station. It would be much more convenient if I could get off my Pascack Valley train in Secaucus and get right onto Amtrak.”
Regarding the Libertyliner 250 proposal, Spencer—a classmate of FRA Administrator David Fink in Transportation Management courses at Northeastern University (Class of 1983)—told Railway Age that he would need permission from Amtrak and NJT, which owns the station. He is prepared to negotiate with both to add the Secaucus Junction stop to the schedules of many of the trains that serve the Northeast region. He also has some new ideas about Amtrak’s long-distance trains. I will report on them soon.
