A new era of high-speed train travel is coming to the nation’s busiest rail corridor.
Federal officials on Friday announced a $2.45 billion loan to Amtrak for the purchase of state-of-the-art trains to replace the aging Acela trains that use the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston.
Amtrak plans to put the first of 28 new trains into service in about five years. Once they are fully deployed, officials expect the Acela to depart every half-hour between Washington and New York and every hour between New York and Boston. That should increase passenger capacity by about 40 percent, they said
When the existing Acela equipment was announced, it was the lead Times story - also on Saturday. But alas, this time around, only Page 12.
Five years - wanna bet?
Posted by PullmanCo (Member # 1138) on :
HSR in the US was new and shiny when the Acela buy mamde the front page of the Times.
Now, what passes for HSR is mundane on the NEC.
Of course, as a friend on another forum pointed out, the trackage from New York to Boston is "not of the best for HSR."
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
For the most part, even on the NEC, it's a matter of high'er' speed rail rather than high speed rail.
Will the next generation Acela's begin to show up before the new Viewliner sleepers and diners do?