Northeast Corridor high-speed-rail plan slows to 160 m.p.h.
Has Amtrak abandoned its vision of 220-mile-per-hour bullet trains speeding up and down the Northeast Corridor?
The railroad recently issued draft specifications for new trains to replace its existing Acelas that call for 160 m.p.h. trains, not the 220 m.p.h. versions Amtrak said in January that it was seeking.
Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority in January announced they were jointly seeking proposals for trains that could run at 220 miles an hour on the West Coast and the East Coast. California still wants 220-m.p.h. trains for its planned high-speed line between Los Angeles and San Francisco....
Amtrak last year outlined a $151 billion vision for high-speed travel on the Northeast Corridor, with 220 m.p.h. trains between New York and Washington by about 2030 and between New York and Boston by 2040. That plan envisioned 37-minute trips between Philadelphia and New York.
The Obama administration urged Amtrak and California to develop a joint high-speed train order to attract foreign train manufacturers to build factories in the United States, creating jobs and a new industry here.
In January, Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority said in a news release that they were "joining forces in the search for proven high-speed-rail train sets currently being manufactured and in commercial service that are capable of operating safely at speeds up to 220 m.p.h. on both Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and on California's developing HSR corridor."
The same month, Amtrak published proposed performance requirements that called for a maximum operating speed of 220 miles per hour, with a maximum test speed of 225 mp.h.
But when Amtrak issued draft specifications for the new trains on Nov. 19, gone were the requirements for 220 m.p.h service on the Northeast Corridor. Instead, the requirements were set for 160 miles per hour....