Amtrak Tests 165 MPH Trains

Amtrak says that last night it began testing trains at 165mph on the northeast corridor.

Two test locations — from Perryville, Md., to Wilmington, Del., and from Trenton to New Brunswick, N.J. — currently have a speed limit of 135 mph. The two others — in Rhode Island from Westerly to Cranston and in Massachusetts from South Attleboro to Readville — have 150 mph limits. The same areas, totaling just over 100 miles, were used for tests reaching 165 mph in the 1990s before the introduction of high-speed Acela service, Cole said. Federal regulations required another round of testing, he said, to further raise the top speed limit.