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How fast do Amtrak Northeast Regional Trains Go?

Bob R asked:

I know the Acela goes up to 150 mph and the northeast regional trains only arrive only about an hour or so later. So, I’m assuming they are pretty fast too.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 5:21 am and is filed under Trains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “How fast do Amtrak Northeast Regional Trains Go?”

  1. Between WAS and NYP the Acela isn’t an hour faster. Which is why I never take it.

    I take it from BWI to NYP and back about once or twice a month. I don’t know how fast the regional goes but if you divide the distance (about 220 miles) by the time (about 3 hours) you can get the average speed.

  2. The Acela only goes 150mi/h for a few miles in Rhode Island, due to safety issues, stupid regulations, and other reason. (Even 150mi/h would not be really considered “high-speed rail” in Europe or Asia.)

    The similar speeds of Acela and “regional service” don’t mean that regional service is faster than you think—it means Acela is slower than you think!

    Back to your question, a typical regional service train takes about 7¾ hours to go between Boston and Washington, DC, a distance of some 454 rail miles. This gives an average speed of about 59 mi/h, though there of course times when the train goes faster and times when it goes slower. This includes, obviously, times when the train is at a complete stop in a station.

  3. Several years ago, I was on the Metroliner between Phila and Washington. I noticed we were walking right past the traffic on I95. I asked the cconductor what our speed was.
    I was in the first car, and he asked me to follow him, so I could look into the engineer’s compartment. 110 MPH!

  4. The Regionals can go up to 125 mph.

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