$745M in federal funds for speedier trains

Acela trains run by Amtrak may be able to reach speeds of as much as 160 miles per hour along 24 miles of track in New Jersey after $450 million in improvements financed by the U.S. government.

Amtrak's Acela, which operates between Washington and Boston with stops at Penn Station in Manhattan, will be able to travel faster than the maximum 135 mph now possible between Trenton and New York City, the Federal Railroad Administration said Monday in an emailed statement announcing $745 million in grants for Northeast Corridor work.

Going 160 miles per hour on that 24-mile segment compared with 135 mph would save about a minute and 40 seconds, meaning $4.5 million would be spent for each second of improvement.

About $450 million will go to the Trenton-New York track improvements, according to the statement.

Another $295 million will be spent on a junction in Queens to separate Amtrak trains traveling between New York and Boston from Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and New Jersey Transit commuter trains.

Nearly 600 LIRR trains travel each day through the 2-mile-long Harold Interlocking in Long Island City, and the MTA said in May that the improvements will ease congestion and reduce delays for all carriers.

"With our population expected to grow by 100 million more people between now and 2050, we are investing in a high-speed rail system that connects to other modes of transportation, reduces congestion and improves the efficiency and reliability of travel in America," Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo said in the statement.

The spending is the first step toward allowing 220-mph train service on the Northeast Corridor, and will improve service reliability on the tracks that also carry NJ Transit and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority trains, Steve Kulm, an Amtrak spokesman, said.

"This is a piece of the first segment of our high-speed rail improvement program to get us to 220" miles an hour, Kulm said. "You need some additional work to be done to get the real time savings."