Amtrak To Launch Nonstop Trains From DC To New York: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — Here's some good news if you like going to New York but hate the hassle of flying or taking the bus there: a two-and-a-half-hour train ride will soon be possible thanks to new nonstop Acela service from Amtrak, according to a report.

The Washington Post reports that Amtrak will launch the new service as part of an effort to focus on its most profitable rail routes.

The service will be limited to just one northbound and one southbound train per weekday, but they will be fast: the southbound train will leave New York's Pennsylvania Station at 6:35 a.m. and arrive at Union Station at 9:10 a.m., while the D.C.-to-NYC train will leave at 4:30 p.m. and arrive at 7:05 p.m. -- not bad for a route that would take someone in a car or bus at least four and a half hours in the best of traffic conditions.

The downside is that it's actually not a huge improvement over current Acela service, which has stops at major hubs along the way. The train is only about 15 minutes faster, but for many commuters, every little bit counts.

Others have explored the idea of speeding up service between D.C. and New York, arguably the two most important transportation hubs on the East Coast. Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has explored the possibility of even faster service between D.C. and New York, claiming in 2017 that he had "verbal approval" from authorities for a "hyperloop" that would cut the commute down to about an hour. A hyperloop would involve a magnetically levitated vehicle that runs in a vacuum, but Musk was ridiculed earlier this year when the new plans he submitted -- this time to fix traffic in Los Angeles -- involved just a normal car tunnel.