Yup. I take the express every work day on the Raritan Line. (Monthly Pass & Parking)

I guess, it's the wonderment and experience. The way the prices are ticketed and the classes of travel, you'd think you were getting on an airplane.

True, most of them run early in the morning and some in the PM rush hour. If there’s no issues w/ tracks/other trains, the trip from Metropark (Iselin) to Newark Penn Station is ~20 minutes on NJ Transit’s NEC route, no extra stops. It’s around 30 minutes for the normal Northeast Corridor route. Some Amtrak routes can do it in 10-15 minutes, but really saving time is almost negligible for a distance like this. You’d notice it more if you took a Amtrak route from Trenton-Newark Penn: 35 minutes (or 30 w/ Acela) vs 75 minutes (or ~50 minutes for express) w/ NJ transit, or even further outside the state like the service was intended.

Also, it’s not like you’re going to magically save time by taking an express/“high speed” train 14,6 miles. As of now (11:20AM, Christmas), you could book a ticket for Tuesday 27 December on Acela for either 95$ or 74$ (one left), and the other Amtrak routes for 83$. Meanwhile NJ Transit’s ticket costs 6,50$ to achieve basically the same thing from Metropark-Newark Penn, sometimes w/ express or local.