Amtrak Northeast Corridor Acela Plan now 160 mph, was 220 mph in early 2013

Story by Paul Nussbaum of the Inquirer on Philly.com titled "Northeast Corridor high-speed-rail plan slows to 160 m.p.h.", some highlights:

Amtrak issued a draft specifications for new trains to replace existing Acela's calling for 160 mph, not  220 mph Amtrak had said prior in January 2013.

Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority in Jan 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.

The Acela travels up to 150 mph over a short stretch, but the top speed between NY and DC is 135 mph. The train's avg speed is much lower; over the approximately 300 mile trip between Philadelphia and Boston, the Acela averages 64 mph.

Improving Amtrak train performance will be incremental. The service I hope will get better and faster over time. This seems to be the case so movement in the right direction, even smallish improvements, is good and must be encouraged.