FIRST, THE NORTHEAST. NEXT...?

December 12, 2000, the new Acela Express trainset left Washington, DC for New York and Boston, the first new high speed scheduled train in a generation in the U.S., and the first that can be seen as the leading edge of a growing shift away from auto- and air-dependence in this country. The article discusses the nationwide movement to high speed rail, driven by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) that established that high speed corridors should exist outside the Northeast Corridor, and that Congress should have a role in funding them. Existing pending legislation, the High Speed Rail Investment Act, that calls for $12 billion capital spending for infrastructure for high speed passenger rail on existing rights-of-way, is expected to pass.