
Passenger concourse inside Philadelphia 30th Street Station; (c) Soul Of America
Interstate High Speed Rail Acela Promise
For dinner with my Hound Phi Hound brothers from college, I chose a restaurant in Philadelphia 30th Street Station. Since I booked a ride on Amtrak Northeast Regional to Baltimore that evening, there would be no last-minute rush to the station. To my surprise, an investigative journey of Interstate High-Speed Rail in Amtrak Northeast Corridor would begin — Thomas Dorsey, Soul Of America

Donny Jones, Thomas Dorsey & Bob Davis at 30th Street Station
After chopping it up with the brothers, I discovered that my Amtrak Northeast Regional train was canceled. The next Amtrak Northeast Regional train would arrive an hour after the next Amtrak Acela train. That meant I would get home so late that Mother wouldn’t be awake when her son from California visited. So late that her mouth-watering, “slap somebody” sweet potato pie would have to chill.
Under Amtrak rules, you can’t take the Acela train having paid for a less expensive Northeast Regional train, as that would be a sneaky upgrade. But since I didn’t cause the long delay before the next Northeast Regional and it was already past 9 pm, I should not have to pay for a ticket upgrade to get the next train to Baltimore.
To my good fortune an Amtrak agent, Ricarda Burrell, jumped through hoops to get me on the next Acela train. I made it home to Baltimore in time for Mother’s welcoming smile and a hot slice of that amazing sweet potato pie.
Nevertheless, my experience illustrates that Amtrak Acela and Amtrak Northeast Regional services fall short of the world-class High-Speed Rail that other nations enjoy. How could that be in the wealthiest country on Earth? That question prodded the travel publisher and transportation analyst in me to discover why it takes so long to fix.
Old Infrastructure Cripples Northeast Corridor Railway
Boston-NYC-Washington corridor (“Northeast Corridor”) contains America’s largest residential, business, government, collegiate, and medical concentration. It produces 20% of America’s GDP. It attracts the most tourists and passenger train riders.

Amtrak owns dark blue track segments; the rest is owned by state transit agencies; (c) Amtrak
Today, 363 miles of the 457-mile Northeast Corridor railway are owned by Amtrak. State transit agencies own the rest. Amtrak and state transit agencies have track-sharing agreements with freight rail companies. Each weekday, 2,000 commuter trains, 140 Amtrak trains, and 60 freight trains use the corridor.
Think of the Northeast Corridor as two major railway segments connecting at New York Penn Station. By handling over half a million daily passengers, it is America’s busiest corridor for intercity passenger trains and commuter trains.
As of September 2024, the fastest Acela Washington-NYC Trip Time is 2 hours 52 minutes. The fastest Acela NYC-Boston Trip Time is 3 hours 43 minutes. The Washington-NYC trip times are significantly shorter because there is more straight mileage and more mileage of 2 dedicated tracks for Amtrak trains.
As the oldest railway in America, the Northeast Corridor is marked by tunnels ranging from 100-150 years old and many old movable bridges that sit low above the water. Maritime Law prevails over Railway Law so movable bridges are required to open for tall ships to pass. The manual opening & closing of movable bridges take a crew 15-30 minutes. Hence, the unpredictable passing of a tall ship can wreck a passenger train schedule.
Old track switches (interlockings), train signaling, and electric power systems (overhead catenary wires, support poles, transformers) that supply electricity to passenger trains are 70-80 years old in many places. In most mileage, overhead catenaries are not constantly tensioned to transmit the higher voltage needed for speeds above 135 mph.
Weather events frequently introduce delays by triggering unscheduled repair of old bridges, tunnels, interlockings, catenary, and train signaling. The Northeast Corridor also constricts from 4 tracks to 3 tracks or 2 tracks in many places which is bad for the volume of Amtrak, commuter, and freight trains they handle. The worst chokepoint limiting passenger train speeds, frequency, and schedule reliability is a 12-mile track salad between New York Penn Station and Newark Penn Station, per the map below.

Slow Zones from Newark Penn Station to New York Penn Station; credit realtransit.org
East River Tunnels bring 4 tracks into the east side of New York Penn Station. Since North River Tunnels under the Hudson River only bring 2 tracks into New York Penn Station, fewer trains per hour can enter & exit from the west side than the east side. Six old interlockings and a railway junction (Waterfront Connection) handle Amtrak & commuter trains (red tracks) headed to Newark Penn Station. Commuter trains from Hoboken (brown tracks) heading to northwestern New Jersey cross the red tracks via old overpasses. The Portal Interlocking contains an old movable bridge that must open for tall ships to pass. In total, that 12-mile chokepoint limits passenger trains to 35-80 mph and lowers train frequency per hour and schedule reliability.
The second worst chokepoint is where the American railway began in 1830 — Baltimore. One curvy 3-track tunnel opened in 1873 forces all passenger & freight trains to enter & exit the west side of Baltimore Penn Station at 30 mph for about 6 miles.
The third worst chokepoint is the mile-long Susquehanna River Bridge (1906) in Maryland. The bridge has the triple penalty of being movable, constricting 4 tracks to 2 tracks, and not being designed for speeds above 125 mph. By comparison, TGV runs 186-199 mph across high-speed bridges in France.

Acela running southbound towards Baltimore on Susquehanna River Bridge built in 1906; credit James G. Howes
Railway infrastructure in the 108-mile NYC-Stamford-New Haven-Old Saybrook segment is even worse. Its movable bridges, interlockings, train signaling, and electrical systems are antiquated. Tracks constrict from 4 to 2 tracks too often and Amtrak trains must slow to cross commuter rail tracks at several interlockings. Automobiles cross tracks in 7 places and a devil’s abundance of curves limit most mileage to 35-80 mph.
Though Germany has several 155-174 mph High-Speed Rail (HSR) lines, world-class HSR lines in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain feature 186-199 mph. They enter & exit metro areas at 93-99 mph at high train frequency with at least 95% schedule reliability. Passengers also enjoy the choice between First, Business, and Coach fares.
America’s political leaders had many chances to build a world-class Northeast Corridor HSR when property, materials, and labor were cheap. That arduous backstory is explained at https://www.soulofamerica.com/home/blog/interstate-high-speed-rail/. How can the Northeast Corridor reach world-class HSR status? Let’s have a look.
Despite Poor Infrastructure, Northeast Corridor HSR Operates at a Profit
Though Amtrak Acela HSR service began in December 2000, its infrastructure was never properly funded. Despite its many shortcomings, Acela demonstrated its compelling value after the 9-11-2001 Terrorist Event occurred, when security check hassle and queues amplified at America’s hub airports. Though flight time remained 50 minutes between Washington and NYC, Total Air Travel Time ballooned to nearly 4 hours on average.

In the NYC-Newark-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington segment, Total Acela Travel Time equals Trip Time on the train plus walking/taxi/Uber/Lyft to & from centrally-located train stations. On average, when origins & destinations are within 20 miles of both central stations, Total Acela Travel Time is less than Total Air Travel Time. When origins & destinations are suburban within 10-15 miles of airports, Total Air Travel Time is typically shorter.
In contrast, Northeast Corridor HSR travelers could buy tickets online, arrive 10 minutes before their scheduled train, and breeze through security. Station platforms are level with train floors and trains have 2 doors per cabin for riders to swiftly board. Once passengers arrive in a Central Business District, they can walk, take a taxi, or ride Metro/Commuter Rail to final destinations.
Acela trains only have 1 First Class, 4 Business, and 1 Cafe cabin. Consequently, Acela does not offer cheaper Coach fares. Nevertheless, Acela delivered more advantages over flying in the corridor than Total Travel Time to central destinations. Acela’s 88-90% reliability beat airlines’ 73-80% schedule reliability. Acela riders also value visiting the Cafe Car and any of the 6 restrooms at their leisure.
Fortunately for budget travelers, Amtrak Northeast Regional offers fares competitive with most Coach Class airfares.
All flights between Washington and Boston have only 12-18 minutes of cruising time when you can open a laptop for work or entertainment. In contrast, all Amtrak trip time can be used for work or or entertainment between these city pairs whose trip times range from 22 minutes to 4 hours:
• NYC-Philadelphia
• NYC-Baltimore
• NYC-Washington
• Philadelphia-Baltimore
• Boston-New Haven
• Boston-NYC
• NYC-Providence
• Newark-New Haven
• Newark-Providence
• Newark-Boston
• Philadelphia-New Haven
• Baltimore-New Haven
• Baltimore-Washington
Despite poor infrastructure, Amtrak Northeast Corridor HSR services have been profitable since 2006.
Obama’s Unfulfilled High-Speed Rail Promise
While campaigning for President, Obama promised a healthy chunk of federal grants from the Economic Stimulus to HSR projects via the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Those federal grants would go to Amtrak and state authorities for ready-to-build and near-ready-to-build projects in the Northeast Corridor, California, Florida, and Milwaukee-Chicago-Gary-Kalamazoo-Ann Arbor-Detroit corridors. To establish public confidence that HSR would be successful, those projects needed $65 billion authorized by USDOT in 2009 and fully dispersed by 2014.
To limit cost inflation while building public confidence, Northeast Corridor HSR and California HSR projects each needed $20 billion in USDOT grants. Florida HSR needed $10 billion and Milwaukee-Chicago-Gary-Kalamazoo-Detroit HSR needed $15 billion. In addition to the $65 billion HSR investment, Amtrak needed $10 billion for its Regional & Long-Distance service maintenance backlog.
Focusing on other campaign priorities, President Obama gambled that he could short-fund HSR projects his first two years, and then make up for it his next two years. Obama approved only $8.5 billion for HSR projects and $5 billion for Amtrak Regional & Long-Distance maintenance backlog. Given the political nature of federal grants, the USDOT’s Federal Railroad Administration spread that $8.5 billion thinly across too many Intercity Passenger Rail upgrade projects.
When the Surface Transportation Bill came up for renewal in 2011, President Obama hoped that Congress would help quicken economic recovery from the Great Recession by approving his $55 billion/6-year Amtrak HSR proposal. The November 2010 Election shattered his hope. In 2011, the new Congress halted additional funding for Amtrak-HSR projects. Consequently, HSR and station achievements during the Obama Administration were limited to:
• Modernization of 23 Amtrak HSR miles in New Jersey
• Partial modernization of 30 Amtrak HSR miles between Washington and Baltimore
• Funding the equivalent of 40 new HSR miles in California’s Central Valley
• New York Penn Station-Moynahan Hall opened with grand architectural features and amenities
Due to political headwinds before leaving office, President Obama could only convince Congress to loan Amtrak $2.5 billion to purchase Nextgen High-Speed Trains. They are built in America by Alstom, the French company renowned for building TGV trains.
By February 2020, Amtrak was transporting more travelers in the corridor than airlines and leading all of Amtrak to profitability. Though the Pandemic butchered ridership, in 2025, New York Penn Station anticipates handling more daily patrons than most hub airports in America.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Anchors Northeast Corridor Phase 1 Modernization
The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) combines new federal grants with the annual Amtrak budget from USDOT. Affected states and freight rail companies co-fund a portion of Amtrak Northeast Corridor projects. Privately-owned Transit-Oriented Developers also co-fund station-related retail, hotel, residential & office projects. In 2023, Amtrak Northeast Corridor projects received the first $16 billion of $30 billion in committed USDOT grants.
Combining federal, state & freight rail company funds, Amtrak should receive $46 billion total for Northeast Corridor Modernization Phase 1 projects to be complete by 2035.
Coming in late 2024, Nextgen Acela trains (Avelia Liberty) accelerate faster and tilt 5-10 mph faster in curves. Nextgen Acela’s 160 mph top speed for 60 miles by 2030 is underwhelming compared to world-class HSR but greatly improves the passenger experience.

Acela & Northeast Regional trains will increase to 15-minute Peak & 30-minute Off-Peak service. Acela’s 8-cabin trains will expand from Business Class-only fares to Business & Coach-Class fares. Passengers will appreciate smoother rides, more comfortable seats, better lighting, better WiFi service, and a better-stocked Cafe Car too.
Washington Union Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, Boston South Station, Baltimore Penn Station, Newark Station, New Haven Station, and Stamford Station are receiving major upgrades as well.

Acela NYC to Washington Speed Limit Current & Infrastructure Modernization Phase 1; credit RealTransit.org
By 2030, enough new tracks (concrete rail ties, interlockings, track smoothing, ) and 15 small bridge upgrades will be completed which should reduce the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia-Newark-NYC Acela Trip Time to 2 hours 37 minutes.
By 2035, the new Hudson River Tunnel, refurbished Hudson River Tunnels, new Frederick Douglass Tunnel, and replacement Susquehanna River Bridge should be completed. Chokepoints in the curvy Newark-NYC-Stamford-New Haven segment will be mildly straightened to sustain 100-110 mph speeds. More catenary upgrades will enable Acela to sustain 160 mph over 130 miles plus 120-135 mph over 35 miles.

In 2035, Amtrak targets 2 hour 30 minute Acela Washington-NYC Trip Time and 3 hour 15 minute Acela Boston-NYC Trip Time. Acela’s schedule reliability will exceed 90% and there will be Coach fares. Budget travelers will also appreciate faster trip times on Amtrak Northeast Regional.
The Washington-Richmond and Springfield-Hartford-New Haven corridors are also being upgraded to 110 mph. They will join the 110 mph Philadlephia-Harrisburg corridor with higher train frequencies in the Northeast Mega-Region.
Northeast Corridor Phase 2 Modernization Needs Funding
Business travelers would gladly pay premiums for a 2-hour Washington-NYC trip time enabling more day trips before returning home for dinner. They would also pay a premium for any 3-hour 30-minute Northeast Corridor Trip Time featuring 96% schedule reliability and creature comforts. Those keys are driving Northeast Corridor Phase 2 upgrade plans.
Avelia Liberty trains are designed for tilting through mild curves at 185 mph. With modifications, they can reach 200 mph. The New Haven-Boston segment already features a state-of-the-art electrical system needed for 200 mph. In Phase 2, the entire Washington-NYC-Boston Corridor will feature modern train signaling, high voltage, and high-tension catenary needed for speeds up to 220 mph. A second Portal Bridge will separate Amtrak from commuter & freight trains, enabling more frequent Amtrak trains between Newark-NYC.
More curve straightening between Newark-North Philadelphia will enable 185 mph. Metro area track in the North Philadelphia-Central Philly-Delaware Border segment will be upgraded for 90-110 mph Amtrak speeds. Dedicated 200 mph bypass tracks for Amtrak are planned from the Pennsylvania-Delaware Border to the Susquehanna Bridge in Maryland. The Baltimore-Washington segment will gain a 4th track so that Acela can run on 2 dedicated tracks enabling Acela to reach 160 mph for 30 miles between the Baltimore and Washington metro areas.
Shortly after 2040, the combination of 160-185-200 mph Acela speeds plus 90-110 mph speeds within metro areas should achieve these performance metrics:
226-Mile NYC-Philadelphia-Washington Segment
• 2-hour Acela Express trip time
• 96% schedule reliability
Building a straighter railway from New Haven through southeastern Connecticut is the larger challenge of Phase 2.

Acela Speed Limits from New Haven to Boston; credit RealTransit.org
Mild curve straitening and expansion to 2 dedicated tracks for Amtrak are needed for Avelia Liberty to reach 185 mph in the New Haven-Old Saybrook segment. There is little opposition to that happening by 2040.
Fixing the curvy 57-mile Old Saybrook-New London-Kingston segment is the heavy lift. The coastal track has so much surrounding development that it’s impractical to straighten curves in southeastern Connecticut. Even with overpasses built at the 7 remaining railroad crossings, Acela would be limited to 35-90 mph speeds and train frequencies.

Amtrak NEC Bypass Alternative 1, orange highlights Slow Zones; credit CTMirror.org
The best Amtrak Proposal I’ve seen is an Old Saybrook-New London-Kingston Bypass that skips 50 miles of coastal curves to reach 200-220 mph via a $66 billion Amtrak NEC Bypass Alternative 1. It’s the light blue line on CTMirror’s Boston-Providence-New London-New Haven-Stamford-NYC Railway Map.
Global Warming is causing sea level rise and higher storm surges, like those by Superstorm Sandy. A respected Bloomberg BusinessWeek report indicates that Global Warming is accelerating with devastating consequences to coastal property, railways, and roadways. An inland bypass can protect Amtrak Northeast Corridor against sea-level rise, yet still, be close to coastal Connecticut’s New London and Mystic cities.
Amtrak prefers NEC Bypass Alternative 1 because it represents tremendous trip time savings and less expense while commuter rail service continues to southeastern Connecticut. Exiting Old Saybrook, the Amtrak NEC Bypass would run parallel to I-95 Highway to an inland New London/Mystic Station, then go to Kingston, Rhode Island. Amtrak passengers in southeastern Connecticut would only need a short drive to/from the New London/Mystic Station.
Most protestors want to maintain the current Amtrak coastal service. They’ve enlisted support from the Connecticut governor, congressmen, state senators, and coastal mayors to prevent an in-land HSR bypass.
Amtrak NEC Bypass Alternative 2 would skip from Kingston to Hartford, yielding a 1-hour 34-minute Boston-NYC Acela Express trip time. Since it would eliminate Acela service in southeastern Connecticut, that’s not popular with protestors either.
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy proved coastal threats with a 10-foot storm surge in Manhattan and points north. Even if technologically advanced nations slow Global Warming, the sea level will rise 2 feet by 2050, if not sooner. That rise will have bad weather, economic, transportation, and ecological consequences.

As storm surges increase, getting flood insurance on coastal property will be impossible. The harsh reality of 2 feet of sea-level rise and higher storm surges will cause more residents to relocate inland by 2040. Hopefully, it becomes politically easier for Connecticut leaders to request funding for Bypass Alternative 1 by 2028, as it will likely take 12 years of planning & public input for environmental clearance, rights-of-way acquisition, engineering, and construction.
If Bypass Alternative 1 is selected and funded by 2028, Acela can meet these performance metrics and harden against sea level rise by 2040:
231-Mile Boston-NYC Segment
• 2-hour 45-minute Express trip time
• 54 daily Amtrak roundtrips
• 95% schedule dependability
On modernized infrastructure, Amtrak will feature 30 daily NYC-Boston roundtrips and 63 daily Washington-NYC roundtrips will likely take 90% of business travel in the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia-Newark-NYC-New Haven-Providence-Boston corridor.
NYC Metro Area has an infrastructure investment plan to connect Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Railroad, and New Jersey Transit commuter rail systems at New York Penn Station to enable 1-seat rides on each other’s tracks.
New York MTA plans to enhance Commuter Rail to Suburban Rail status like the Réseau Express Régional (RER) service in the Paris Metro Area. Many travelers take high-speed trains to Paris, then switch to RER and vice-versa.
When NYC Regional Rail Network is fully implemented it will deliver similar benefits. Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington have similar Regional Rail upgrade plans. Better HSR, Regional Rail, Commuter Rail, and Metro Rail will be a difference-maker for college students. Maybe your kids will chop it up with college friends at Boston South Station, New York Penn Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, Baltimore Penn Station, or Washington Union Station too.
Click below for more insight on how Amtrak Northeast Corridor HSR fits within the big-picture Interstate High-Speed Rail System.