NEW YORK — The fastest trains in Amtrak's fleet are getting even faster.
The first of those NextGen Acela trains, as Amtrak calls them, are scheduled to start running on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Amtrak offered a preview of the new trains a day earlier, when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and top railroad officials rode the inaugural train from Washington to New York City.
"They're beautiful. They're going to be faster," Duffy said at a press conference before the ride on Wednesday. "It's going to mean better revenue, but most importantly, a better experience for the travelling public."
Amtrak says the NextGen trains can reach top speeds of up to 160 miles per hour — 10 miles per hour faster than the current Acela fleet. They're also lighter and larger, with 27% more seats.
But the NextGen fleet will lag far behind the fastest bullet trains in the world, which routinely top 200 miles per hour in Asia and Europe. The Acela trains are limited by the design and condition of the Northeast Corridor's aging rails, tunnels and electrical infrastructure, which they share with slower Amtrak trains and commuter railroads.
Still, the unveiling marks a big day for Amtrak after years of development and technical delays. The railroad is also celebrating record ridership last year.
Amtrak board chair Anthony Coscia called the new trains the biggest investment in the railroad's rolling stock in 25 years, but "it certainly came with its challenges," he said Wednesday. "Getting these trains put into service required developing skills that had all but disappeared."
The rollout of the trains had to be delayed several times. Alstom, the manufacturer, was forced to make changes after problems emerged during testing in real-world conditions on the Northeast Corridor, where aging infrastructure is not up to the standards of other high-speed rail systems. The trains were manufactured at Alstom's plant in Hornell, N.Y.
"These trains, built by skilled American workers in Hornell, are not just about speed; they symbolize our dedication to bringing the world's best rail technology to the United States and supporting economic growth across the nation," Michael Keroullé, the CEO of Alstom Americas, said in a statement.
The unveiling comes at a precarious moment for high-speed rail in the U.S. Passenger rail enjoyed years of robust support under President Biden, who famously logged thousands of miles on Amtrak as a senator from Delaware. Now the Trump administration is trying to revoke $4 billion in federal grants from a troubled high-speed rail project in California that is behind schedule and over budget.
But Transportation Secretary Duffy insists that the Trump administration wants to see high-speed trains succeed in the U.S.
"I would love to see high-speed rail in America. I don't think it should just be China, Europe, Japan, others that have high-speed rail," Duffy said on Wednesday.
The Department of Transportation is also taking on a larger role at two of the busiest stations on the Northeast Corridor.
On Wednesday, Duffy announced that DOT would reclaim management of Union Station in Washington, D.C from Amtrak. The station, which is within walking distance of the U.S. Capitol, has been owned by DOT since the 1980s. Duffy says the move will help "make this city safe and beautiful at a fraction of the cost."
And in New York City, DOT has inserted itself into the planning for renovations at Penn Station, the busiest transit hub in North America. Duffy announced Wednesday that construction would begin in 2027 — an ambitious timeline for a project that has been discussed and debated for decades.
"This administration is not afraid of taking on hard projects," Duffy said on Wednesday at a separate press conference at New York's Penn Station. "We're gonna fix complicated problems, and make those solutions serve the American people."
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