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YES! Amtrak Testing 165 MPH Trains On Northeast Corridor
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 24, 2012
Modified Sep 24, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 24, 2012
Modified Sep 24, 2012
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While everyone dreams of Amtrak's plans for a 37-minute NYC-to-Philadelphia trip and 94-minute NYC-to-Boston (or Washington D.C.) trip with 220 mph trains, Amtrak will actually test high-speed trains on our Northeast Corridor! To the future!
According to the AP, the testing starts tonight in NJ:
All the locations may one day have regular 160 mph service. Amtrak said tests need to be performed at 5 mph above what is expected to be a maximum operating speed of 160 mph.
Two test locations — from Perryville, Md., to Wilmington, Del., and from Trenton to New Brunswick, N.J. — currently have a speed limit of 135 mph. The two others — in Rhode Island from Westerly to Cranston and in Massachusetts from South Attleboro to Readville — currently have 150 mph limits.
The same areas, totaling just over 100 miles, were used for high-speed tests before the introduction of Acela service.
Right now, Acela Express' top speed is 150 mph. However, as Wired noted in 2007, "What kind of high speed train system stops for 15 minutes at a station when the train still hasn’t reached the terminus?"
Tagged
amtrak
high speed rail
high speed train
infrastructure
mass transit
northeast corridor
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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