Tintinnabulation of the Acela

By Michael M. Grynbaum
Turn that thing down!Brad Bower/Bloomberg News Turn that thing down!
Off the Rails

There comes a day in the life of any transportation reporter — ever the disinterested, impartial observer — when a personal travel experience seems too amusing to resist a mention. Reader, bear with us: today is that day.

Last week, Off the Rails plunked down into one of the cushy new leather seats aboard the Acela Express, Amtrak‘s Northeast Corridor high-speed rail service, and settled in for what we expected to be a peaceful, environmentally friendly trip to Washington.

“Bing-bong-bing!” The signature Acela chime, a chirpy, somewhat robotic composition that is unique to the high-speed trains, sounded on the overhead speaker system. The conductor announced the next stop as Newark and wished us all a smooth ride.

As the train emerged on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, the chime sounded again: “Bing-bong-bing!” This time, no announcement.

Then, a few seconds later: “Bing-bong-bing!” “Bing-bong-bing!” “Bing-bong-bing!”  Three in a row.

We watched the ticket-taker, a friendly woman in her mid-30s, smile as she punched tickets and bantered with passengers. No one seemed perturbed by the errant chimes. There was a brief respite of half a minute or so, just long enough for us to assume that the problem was resolved, before the loudspeaker was at it again. This time, four straight bing-bongs, each seemingly louder than the previous one.

Now, Acela passengers are a stoic lot. Call them the crowd of the “Three B’s”: BlackBerrys, briefcases, Brooks Brothers. It is not unusual for passengers to conduct entire conference calls on Bluetooth headsets from their business-class seats, conveniently equipped with power outlets and free wireless Internet. The train is a boardroom on wheels.

But the relentless assault of the bing-bongs seemed to eat away at this composed corporate veneer. Grumbling began, accompanied by hushed obscenities. The ticket-taker’s attempt at a joke — “Boy, that is really getting annoying!” — failed miserably.

“That’s not what we want to hear,” one passenger replied with a scowl.

Meanwhile: bing-bong-bing-bong-bing-bong.

An Amtrak spokeswoman said the tune dates to the Acela’s launch, in 2000. A focus group chose the chime from several tones composed by an interior design firm. The noise plays before conductor announcements, and a slightly different bing-bong is used to warn passengers of closing doors.

(Getting hold of a recording of the chime to share with you was difficult. We neglected to make one on our trip, could not bring ourselves to buy another ticket to record one, and Amtrak has declined so far to furnish a sample. The clip posted above was taken from this video, at the 5:22 mark. This, by the way, marks the second train-chime mystery City Room has assayed recently, after an unfamiliar door-closing tune turned up on a No. 1 subway train in January.)

Online, the Acela chime has not received great rider reviews, being characterized variously as “annoyingly loud” and “really loud, really annoying.” That certainly summed up the feelings of this train’s passengers. About 15 minutes of non-stop bong-ing went by until a regretful-sounding conductor came on the intercom.

“We apologize for the inconvenience of the horrible noise,” the conductor said, before explaining that the crew could not simply shut off the public address system, which must be kept on “for emergency notifications.” The crew had telephoned Amtrak’s 24-hour help hot line and was waiting for a response.

The bing-bongs continued on and off for about 45 minutes before finally ceasing. Asked later for an explanation, the Amtrak spokeswoman said only, “We are looking into the issue.”

“This is not a common problem,” she added.

Our transit reporter, Michael M. Grynbaum, advises you on the latest chatter from the city’s roads and rails. Check back every Monday. Got a tip? He can be reached at OffTheRails@nytimes.com.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

vivek March 14, 2011 · 6:46 pm

Bing-bong-bing! I wonder if that is Acela-speak for SOS…

5w30 March 14, 2011 · 6:52 pm

This familiar three-note chime does trace its origins to the bells trainmen used to use to call people to dinner.
//www.nbcchimes.info/
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=urTQpmZnBcs&feature=related

The Public March 14, 2011 · 7:53 pm

It reminds me of the relentless announcements that are accompanying the message boards in the I.R.T. subway stations.

I suppose that they’re for people who can’t read numbers, see, find the message boards, or some other sensible reason.

Doohey Delahaney March 14, 2011 · 7:57 pm

Amtrak needs to hire people with experience in PR. Clearly, they don’t have ANYBODY with ANY experience right now. Ignoring current and potential customer’s who want an explanation — any explanation — for a mostly trivial matter will only exacerbate negative perceptions. If Amtrak can’t handle the trivial matters, it’s damn sure they cannot handle the matters that truly matter.

Jerry Vadnesic March 14, 2011 · 8:03 pm

But, was the train on time? The two times I tried the Acela Express there were signficant delays, and I haven’t tried since.

Esteban March 14, 2011 · 8:10 pm

I take the Acela from Boston to NYC and back frequently and have never experienced this problem. While not perfect, the Acela is excellent. We need more high-speed rail in the US.

Larry Miller March 14, 2011 · 8:29 pm

It’s heartbreaking to learn that you and the Brooks Brothers boys had to endure such suffering. Oh, the humanity!

Eric March 15, 2011 · 12:01 am

Thanks for the critical in depth reporting. Perhaps, in your free time, you could look into the concerted assault on the middle and working classes by the uber-wealthy. That is, if you’re not entranced/entrenched by their latest gadgets.

CHINABOY March 15, 2011 · 3:40 am

How perfectly absurd that AMTRAK has no way to deactivate these incessantly sounding chimes. As usual the response is irresponsible (“We are looking
into the issue”.) Every passenger on that train
ought to have been given a full refund. For the
price one pays for the privilege of riding the
ACELA one expects far better but must be
realistic realising that you’re dealing with a
governmental agency saddled in debt thanks to
a congress that doesn’t give a fig about America’s rail future.

This serves to put us way behind other nations
and not following Europe or China’s lead by
developing superb intercity/ international high
speed trains upon which one can depend.

Adam in the Boros March 15, 2011 · 7:18 am

Acela’s only worth it if you sit in 1st class, otherwise the regional is just as good.

Paul March 15, 2011 · 8:29 am

Try riding Metro North. We get assaulted with their “BING – BONG” followed by a prerecorded message. This BING-BONG and message is played as you pull INTO a station stop telling you what station it is, to watch the gap, and the train’s destination. Then it plays again as it LEAVES the station: “BING-BONG, this is the train to Grand Central. The next stop is…”. Then it plays AGAIN as it pulls into the next stop and it starts all over again. BING-BONG…BING-BONG..BING-BONG….this goes on for 30 minutes non-stop.
I’ve written to Metro North asking them to either stop this “water torture” assault or at least turn the volume down from the screaming roar they have it set to. I would like to sleep at 6am in the morning. As usual, I got their condescending response from their customer service department that, in effect, this is for my own safety.

Charlotte K March 15, 2011 · 9:05 am

I am a frequent traveler from Boston to NYC. Noise is a problem all the time (even in the quiet car). I’ve been riding the trains for a long time though and the service (by people and trains) has improved so much that all I can say is take earplugs and enjoy the ride.

Nova Nicole March 15, 2011 · 10:08 am

#7, I agree, perhaps a documentary about the plight of these poor people should be made, it could be called “The Silence of the Dweebs”

M March 15, 2011 · 10:18 am

Has anyone asked if the operating system is a version of HAL9000?

Jim March 15, 2011 · 10:22 am

This article is just whiney. Also, for a journalist to say that a recording was difficult to obtain, and two of the three reasons are the journalists negligence and laziness, this seems more incompetant than the Acela’s technical glitch. I also fail to see how “stoic” persons can become unnerved by chiming for 45 minutes. This article is “really annoying.”

Sauce March 15, 2011 · 10:30 am

This has happened to me on the Metro-north harlem line. The “bing-bong” of the door chime got stuck on. I figured it was automated, but I suppose someone may have had something resting on the “bing-bong” button. Regardless, it’s happened once and I haven’t had a problem like that since.

Do you ride the Acella frequently, or did you just have an unlucky first experience? A google search for acella chime and acella bing-bong only come up with this article. If this was a common problem, i think we’d have heard more about it.

It’s a shame that when people look up a progressive, 21st century transportation solution like the Acella, the first thing they’ll see is this article :(

AngelaM March 15, 2011 · 10:37 am

The LIRR is no different. I take it (thankfully) infrequently. But the chimes at each stop, the relentless ‘gap’ announcements the incessent ‘take your belongings’ announcements. After a while you just want to scream. My husband takes it twice a day, 5 days a week. It’s like slow torture. It takes morons to assume that all train riders are a bunch of morons that need to be reminded minute by minute of the most mundane things. A little peace and quiet would go a long way to not make the ride a torture chamber. Maybe they can license those chimes to Guantanamo, to drive those ‘enemy combatants’ crazy. It would be very effective as torture.

johannesrolf March 15, 2011 · 11:05 am

try taking a NYC bus sometime. the hectoring never stops. and the police dept. sees fit to constantly lecture us whenever we take public transport. why do the announcers have to be drill sergeants? why not a soft feminine voice instead?

cynthia March 15, 2011 · 11:39 am

Try listening to the high-pitched “bing-bongs” and door-closing warnings on MetroNorth whlle wearing hearing aids. These high pitches cause feedback in the hearing aids, much like the the feedback from a microphone.

Charles March 15, 2011 · 11:39 am

The chimes can’t be more annoying than having to listen to all those Blackberry conversations which are usually conducted in a voice loud enough for the whole car to hear. And they’re usually completely unnecessary, just a way to kill the time and annoy fellow passengers. The quiet cars are nice but there’s not enough of them and the rules aren’t always respected or enforced.

Mike March 15, 2011 · 3:48 pm

Maybe it was the Acela train’s tribute the “clang clang clang” of the late Hugh Martin’s trolley mentioned in today’s obituary section.

jojo March 16, 2011 · 12:10 pm

Meanwhile, thousands remain missing off the east coast of Honshu. Nice priorities, everyone!

LaSharon March 16, 2011 · 11:35 pm

I’ve been riding Amtrak N.E corridor for over 25 years. In the last 4 years I’ve done the NYC-DC at least once a month. The train’s been reliable. Rarely late. Last month I treated myself to a first time Acela trip to Boston. A most enjoyable ride after I moved away from the woman chomping loudly on her bagel and cream cheese in the seat behind me. But anyway, such a pleasant ride that I didn’t mind so much that the train was AN HOUR LATE.

Took the regular train back home that evening. Again a pleasant ride. Must be something about the Boston crowd. The train made better time than the Acela.

train mama March 21, 2011 · 9:22 pm

Michael, this is great – life imitates Thomas The Tank Engine. The Acela episode is remarkably like a Thomas short my 2-year-old introduced to me called “Whistles and Sneezes” in which a particularly uppity train’s whistle gets stuck and the other trains laugh at him.

David Dyte March 22, 2011 · 9:26 am

I appreciate chimes before announcements. My hearing is poor, and if we go straight to the voice I can miss the station name. With the chimes to warn me that something is up, I am concentrating fully to hear the announcement.