Travelers will (eventually) have an easier time getting around the US' East Coast, according to a Reuters report.
National rail company Amtrak announced a $151 billion improvement plan on Monday that includes 37-minute trips from New York to Philadelphia at speeds approaching 220 miles per hour. Travel times from New York to either Washington or Boston (both about 200 miles in distance) would also be slashed to approximately 94 minutes, the report said. Current travel times from New York to Philadelphia on Amtrak's high-speed (for the U.S.) Acela trains are 1 hour, 15 minutes. Travel between New York and Washington currently takes 2 hours, 45 minutes and New York to Boston takes 3 hours, 41 minutes, according to Amtrak's website.
There are some catches, of course: The company will need substantial financial support from both state and federal governments to make its ambitious plan to transform rail travel in the Northeast a reality. And, perhaps most distressing, Amtrak is looking pretty far into the future for these timelines: The railroad predicted that the super-fast train trips along the East Coast might be a reality by 2040. So if we don't have personal jet packs by then, these trips sound like a great way to explore the countryside.
