On 27 August at Union Station in Washington, US transportation secretary Sean Duffy boarded the maiden voyage of Amtrak\u2019s NextGen Acela trains, the largest investment in the railroad\u2019s rolling stock in 25 years. His deputy praised the Trump administration for doing \u201cwhat they do best \u2013 making big, beautiful projects come to life.\u201d Commentators have been quick to cry foul, given that Duffy\u2019s office yanked $4bn (\u20ac3.39bn) from the troubled California High-Speed Rail Authority in July. They have pointed out that Barack Obama first funded the new Acela in 2015 and the Biden administration\u2019s signature infrastructure bill pumped additional money into the project. Trump was a vociferous critic of the legislation, threatening Republicans who supported it.<\/p>\n
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Tracking nicely: Amtrak\u2019s NextGen Acela train (Image: Amtrak)<\/p>\n
But hypocrisy be damned. Let Trump take the credit \u2013 and keep it coming. Considering the amount of Biden\u2019s legacy that the current president has sought to dismantle, the administration\u2019s new tune on trains is a hopeful sign of Perez\u2019s prophecy coming true. I hopped aboard a brand-new NextGen over the weekend. The Acela route was opened in 2000 and runs at an average speed of 113km\/h \u2013 yes, I hear you scoffing aboard your TGV Lyria. Amtrak has been touting that its 28 new trains, made from 95 per cent US components at the French manufacturer\u2019s upstate New York plant and rolling out through 2027, can reach 257 km\/h.<\/p>\n
But as I write this column while poking along the Connecticut shoreline slowly enough to make out the names of sailboats bound for Long Island Sound, it\u2019s obvious that this top speed is a marketing ploy. What matters more is a consistently zippy ride. To make that a reality, Amtrak needs federal support to upgrade centuries-old infrastructure<\/a> and plow through local opposition to new, straighter tracks that can skirt speed limits to deliver true high-speed service. Many of these improvements are already happening, such as replacing a 151-year-old tunnel in Baltimore and a 114-year-old bridge in New Jersey. If the federal government doesn\u2019t derail these infrastructure schemes, the New York-Washington leg could shrink to under two hours by 2040 \u2013 faster than the roughly comparable Paris-Lyon TGV.\u00a0Quel miracle!<\/p>\n In the meantime, Acela riders will have to content themselves with incremental speed gains such as the deployment of Alstom\u2019s Tiltronix technology that allows the NextGen (a rebranded Avelia for those keeping score) to lean into curves without spilling my La Colombe coffee from the caf\u00e9 car \u2013 even during the brief, glorious stretch where we reach top speed for a whole 20 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I\u2019ll offer one last rivalry-tinged incentive for the White House to stay on course. In February, Canada\u2019s now former prime minister Justin Trudeau unveiled plans for his country\u2019s first high-speed rail corridor. Last week, Ottawa declared the Alto line from Toronto to Qu\u00e9bec City as a priority infrastructure project. Canada might have the US\u2019s number in ice hockey but it would be a national embarrassment to lose out in the race for an iron horse worthy of the 21st century.<\/p>\n Gregory Scruggs is Monocle\u2019s Seattle correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight,\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to Monocle today.<\/p>\n
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