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Amtrak to purchase new rail cars for Acela service
On a day when Republicans in the House were pushing to privatize its routes in the northeast U.S., Amtrak said Thursday that it was buying new equipment for its Acela service in the region.
The national passenger rail service said it was buying an entirely new set of high-speed rail cars, replacing a plan to add 40 of the existing Acela cars to the company’s high-speed fleet.
Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have criticized the speed Amtrak’s Acela service, arguing that trains on the routes do not achieve "true" high speeds. Acela trains are capable of running up to 150 miles per hour, but because the trains share tracks with Amtrak's regular service in the Northeast, some routes can run as slow as 80 miles per hour in some places.
“Moving directly to new high-speed train sets is the best option to create more seating capacity, permit higher speeds, and maximize customer comfort all while improving equipment reliability and reducing operating costs,” Boardman said in a statement released by Amtrak Thursday evening.
GOP lawmakers in the House have pushed to privatizing service in the Amtrak corridor that is served by Acela trains, arguing that private companies could better develop technology for running faster trains.
Amtrak has told lawmakers it has a plan to increase the speed of its trains to 220 miles per hour by 2040, but Republicans have derided the plan as unrealistic.
