High Speed ‘Trains of the Future’ May Finally Be Coming to the Northeast

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Beginning in 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is expected to finally permit modern European designs on tracks throughout the country, running side by side with heavy freight, at all times of day. This decision could cut the weight of U.S. passenger trains in half, meaning trains can go faster, accelerate more quickly, cause less wear on tracks, and get passengers to their destination in less time.

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The decision by the FRA to finally shelve regulatory requirements from the 1920s means that lighter replacement train sets for the Acela could cut the trip from Boston to New York by 30 minutes (the trains can maneuver the curvy tracks of New England at higher speeds) and the faster acceleration and braking could shave 5 to 10 minutes off the trip from New York to Washington.

That doesn’t seem like a lot of time savings, particularly on the New York to Washington run, but for a small investment, you could shave off a lot more minutes.

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If you combine the purchase of the new lighter Acela train sets with some of the incremental improvements that Amtrak has proposed in its 2012 “Vision for the Northeast Corridor” report, passengers on trains could get from Boston to New York City in 2 hours and 51 minutes (versus 3 hours and 30 minutes currently) and travel between New York City and Washington in a mere 2 hours and 22 minutes (2 hours and 50 minutes now). And for the first time, the Acela will actually be able to reach speeds of 160 mph both north and south of New York, which was what it was supposed to do back when it was built in the 1990s.

The cost for these faster times? About $19.2 billion spread out over ten years. That’s a lot of money, especially in these tough fiscal times, but compared with the $150 billion price tag for Amtrak’s Next Generation High Speed Rail (which could include a new tunnel under the Long Island Sound that everyone knows will never be built), or the $69 billion being spent on the California’s high speed rail project, it's a bargain. Or to put it another way, we can spend $19 billion to shave 67 minutes between Boston and Washington or we can spend an additional $131 billion to cut another 149 minutes.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/25/high-speed-trains-of-the-future-may-finally-be-coming-to-the-northeast.html