Interstate High Speed Rail Acela

The Best Is Yet To Come

The Northeast Corridor railway supports America’s largest residential, business, government, and collegiate concentration. That Boston-Providence-New Haven-Stamford-NYC-Newark-Philadelphia-Wilmington-Baltimore-Washington corridor produces 20% of America’s GDP and attracts the most tourists. The corridor has antiquated railway tunnels & bridges. A mega-project is finally addressing its infrastructure shortcomings.

In 2025, Amtrak intercity and commuter trains in the 457-mile Northeast Corridor will make nearly 1 million daily trips. Compared to similar passenger rail mileage in France or Germany, however, Northeast Corridor ridership is abysmal. Here’s why trip times are terrible by world High-Speed Rail (HSR) standards:

• 25 year-old Acela trains breakdown too frequently
• 60-150 year old bridges are so low to the water, they must open for tall ships
• 60-150 year old tunnels, bridges & track switches trigger unscheduled repairs after bad weather
• Most Connecticut route mileage is riddled with a devil’s abundance of sharp curves
• Old track switches force trains to enter/exit many stations at 10-15 mph instead of 25-30 mph
• New overpasses are needed for slower commuter trains to cross over faster intercity trains
• The entire route needs at least 4 tracks so slow trains don’t limit the speed & frequency of fast trains
• Most mileage lacks modern 25 kiloVolts (25 kV) electrical systems & signaling to support 185-200 mph
• Acela makes extra stops that should be relegated to an upgraded Northeast Regional trains
• Northeast Regional makes extra stops that should be relegated to upgraded Commuter Rail trains
• Amtrak needs a straighter 200 mph bypass in the Kingston, RI-New Haven, CT segment
• Amtrak needs a straighter 200 mph bypass in Delaware segment
• Every Acela Station platform needs lengthening to support 12 passenger cabins + 2 locomotives

When the Northeast Corridor HSR project launched in 1993, President Clinton, Congress, and several governors did not properly fund major infrastructure upgrades when property rights-of-way, materials, and labor were cheap. Its infrastructure upgrade received about one-fifth of the needed federal, state local funds. Here is the backstory.

Obama’s Unfulfilled High-Speed Rail Promise

Compared to air travel, Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains attract 75% of non-highway passenger travel between NYC and Washington and 50% of non-highway passenger travel between NYC and Boston. If the Northeast Corridor were completely modernized, those percentages would likely be 90% and 75%, respectively. Trains would remove a huge chunk of Northeast Corridor highway congestion.

The prospect of Northeast Corridor Modernization appealed to many people who voted for Obama in November 2008. He promised to restore the economy and fund key HSR projects. Since he had the benefit of a Democrat-majority Congress, President Obama was presented the rare opportunity to set the size of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for infrastructure, education, business bailouts, and tax credits.

Many on his advisory team argued that he should set the amount between $1.0 to $1.2 trillion for larger job-creating infrastructure investment to couple with his priorities in healthcare, education, tax cuts, business bail-outs, and extended unemployment benefits during the Great Recession. President Obama settled for an overly conservative $831 billion.

Promising HSR projects in the Northeast Corridor, California, Florida, Chicago-St. Louis, and Chicago-Kalamazoo-Detroit corridors needed $64 billion in federal grants in 2009 to cover about 60% of project costs. That amount would trigger state & local grants covering 30-35% of costs, plus freight rail companies and Transportation-Oriented Developers (TOD) covering the 5-10% remainder. Specifically, the Northeast Corridor needed a $16 billion federal grant to trigger $11 billion in investment by states, local sources, and TOD.

Since Obama shortchanged the ARRA and focused on other economic priorities. ARRA’s USDOT grants were only $8.5 billion for HSR projects and $5 billion for Amtrak Regional & Long-Distance maintenance backlog. Obama gambled that he could make up for it in his next two years introducing a $55 billion/6-year Amtrak-HSR proposal in mid-2010 that would take effect in early 2011. Since there would be photo-ops showcasing jobs created by both political parties, he naively hoped for bipartisan support in Congress to quicken recovery from the Great Recession.

The November 2010 Election shattered his naive hope. In January 2011, a new hyper-partisan Congress halted federal grants for all Amtrak-HSR projects. Consequently, Obama’s Northeast Corridor HSR upgrades were limited to:

• Modernization of the electrical system & signaling in only 23 HSR miles in New Jersey
• Adding 3rd track between Washington and Baltimore, which modestly increased train frequencies.
• Co-funding the new New York Penn Station-Moynahan Hall
• Loaning Amtrak $2.5 billion to purchase next-gen high-speed trains from a French company with a NY manufacturing plant

The good news is Amtrak, federal, state, and local partners are finally modernizing infrastructure in a multi-state mega-project. They upgraded NYC Penn Station with the awe-inspiring Moynahan Train Hall. Over 2025-30, Washington Union Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, Boston South Station, Baltimore Penn Station, and New Haven Station are receiving major upgrades as well.

Another important step was taken in August 2025, when 5 NextGen Acela trains replaced 5 old Acela trains in commercial service. NextGen Acela trains based on Alstom’s Avelia Liberty tilt 8-12 mph faster in curves. NextGen adds 3 Passenger Cabins for 9 cabins (8 Passenger + 1 Cafe) sandwiched by front & rear locomotives.

NextGen Acela passengers experience more comfortable seats, better lighting, 5G WiFi, power outlets & cupholders at each site, spacious restrooms, and a better-stocked Cafe Cabin. It matches the best onboard train experience in France, with one major exception. It lacks Coach Class ticket prices.

By late 2026, more track smoothing will complete and all 20 old Acela trains will be replaced, enabling less schedule padding and higher seating capacity for all Acela trains. In 2027, all 28 NextGen Acela trains enter service and reach 160 mph over 60 modernized miles. Acela & Northeast Regional trains combined will increase to 3 trains per hour at Peak, and 2 trains per hour Off-Peak.

Now the hard part — fixing all remaining old Northeast Corridor infrastructure. It requires 11 more years of construction to more fully reap the benefits.

Think of it as two railway segments connecting at New York Penn Station — the busiest station in North America. The stations below support Amtrak and commuter trains. More Amtrak trains per hour travel south of NYC than north of NYC. Acela skips smaller stops produce shorter trip times than its sibling, Amtrak Northeast Regional.

Until 2027, anticipate the shortest Acela Washington-NYC Trip Time reaming 2 hours 54 minutes while making 5 stops. The shortest Acela NYC-Boston Trip Time will likely remain 3 hours 42 minutes while making 5 stops.

Amtrak and its partners are addressing the worst choke zone in the Washington-NYC segment, a 12-mile track salad between New York Penn Station and Newark Penn Station that limits passing trains to 30-80 mph, reduces train frequencies, and lowers schedule reliability.

East River Tunnels bring 4 tracks into the east side of New York Penn Station. Since the North River (Hudson River) Tunnels only bring 2 tracks into the west side of New York Penn Station, fewer trains per hour enter & exit. A present, New York Penn Station requires an extra 4 minutes entering & exiting at 15 mph rather than 30 mph.

The Portal Interlocking contains an old movable bridge that must open for tall ships to pass. Six old track switches and a railway junction handle Amtrak and commuter trains to/from Newark Penn Station. Commuter trains from Hoboken heading to New Jersey cross the red tracks via an antiquated overpasses. South of Newark Penn Station, commuter trains use another old switch to slowly cross Amtrak tracks before exiting to their commuter route in northern New Jersey.

The second-worst choke zone of the Washington-NYC segment is where the American railway began — 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.

Third-worst choke zone of the Washington-NYC segment is a mile-long, movable, 2-track 1906 Susquehanna River Bridge. The antiquated bridge and few 2-track miles leading to it limit speeds to 125 mph.

Excluding 23 miles in New Jersey modernized to 25 kV electric & signaling systems to support 160 mph, most of the Washington-NYC segment has an old 12 kV electric system that limits top speed to 135 mph.

The NYC-Stamford-New Haven-New London infrastructure is antiquated and very curvy. Antrak and commuter trains use 7 level roadway crossings, limiting speeds to 30-79 mph. The NYC-New Haven segment has an old 12.5 kV electric system, but is too developed and curvy to cost-justify straightening for speeds over 110-125 mph.

As you might guess, the entire 457-mile corridor requires new bridges & tunnels, overpasses, modern 25 kV electric & signaling systems, more straightening, 4 tracks and uniformly longer station platforms by 2036 to reach 160 mph over a majority of mileage.

The stage was set for the next President and Congress to fund most Northeast Corridor upgrades. Funding the expensive 200 mph bypasses could come later.

Trump Misled Voters About Support for HSR

While campaigning for President in 2016, Trump promised to fund HSR projects as part of a plan to invest $550 billion in infrastructure. As President in 2017, however, he did not make an HSR funding proposal to Congress. Instead, his priority was tax cuts for the rich.

In January 2019, Democrats regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their constituents still wanted more federal funding for Northeast Corridor HSR, California HSR and Chicago-Midwest HSR projects.

Due to 18.4% of aggregate inflation from 2009-2019, Northeast Corridor upgrades would cost $22 billion in 2019. Trump still had a slam-dunk opportunity to convince Congressional Democrats and a handful of Congressional Republicans to pass a $22 billion federal grant to the Northeast Corridor, which would attract $15 billion from state, local & private company partners.

Trump never proposed those grants over 2017-20. No stranger to hypocrisy, however, he still laments that America doesn’t have HSR like other nations. Consequently, the GOP Congress and Trump deserve the lion’s share of blame for HSR project delays and inflation from 2011-2020.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Anchors Northeast Corridor Modernization

Based on leadership by President Biden, Amtrak is making major improvements, particularly in the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), signed in November 2021, committed $30 billion to the  Connect NEC 2037 upgrade.

By 2030, adding 4th track, new switches, and 15 small bridge upgrades will be completed. That should slightly reduce schedule padding and increase schedule reliability for more time at 3 trains per hour.

By 2037, the new Hudson River Tunnel, the Frederick Douglass Tunnel, Susquehanna River Bridge, remaining small bridges should be completed. More chokepoints in the curvy Newark-NYC-Stamford-New Haven sub-segment will be reduced. More curve easing, signaling & electrical upgrades will improve the slowest speeds and enable at least 130 miles to support 160 mph.

Amtrak targets a 2-hour 34-minute Acela Washington-NYC Trip Time and a 3-hour 15-minute Acela Boston-NYC Trip Time by 2037. Train frequencies will increase. Acela’s schedule reliability should reach 90% between Washington and NYC and 85% between Boston and NYC. We just need 11 years more patience.

Interstate High-Speed Rail Part 6