Is Acela a Turtle?
As reported by the New York Times, the inspiration for the new Acela logo is a turtle. While Amtrak admits that a turtle does not move very fast, they selected the image of a sea turtle making stately and peaceful progress through blue waters as the key to the mood they wanted to suggest. The result was an abstracted fin. Thus far, the turtle appears to be an appropriate symbol for the Acela. The starting date for the Acela Express has been continuously pushed back due to various equipment and other problems. The first all electric run was made on January 31st from Boston using refurbished Amfleet equipment as part of Acela Regional Service, which is about 1 hour faster than the F-40 hauled trains, although not as fast as the high speed equipment will travel. The initial run was 45 minutes late, but as might be expected, Bob LaMay was on hand to photograph it. We hope things will work out better in the future.
