Corridore High Speed Testing

[Bob Bufkin]

From Trains Newswire and it was also on the local DC news yesterday.

Amtrak to operate 165 mph test trains on Northeast Corridor, 110 mph in Illinois

 Published: September 24, 2012




Amtrak to operate 165 mph test trains on Northeast Corridor, 110 mph in Illinois

WASHINGTON – Amtrak will begin operating test trains at 165 mph in four areas on the Northeast Corridor beginning tonight. Tests are run 5 mph faster than the expected eventual operating speed, in this case 160 mph. The tests will occur in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts and will continue into next week. They will utilize Acela Express equipment and will measure the interaction between train and track, ride quality, and other safety factors.

Tests will occur in the following zones:

■Perryville, Md. to Wilmington, Del. (21.3 miles)
■Trenton to New Brunswick, N.J. (22.9 miles)
■Westerly to Cranston, R.I. (29.2 miles)
■South Attleboro to Readville, Mass. (27.8 miles)

The first test run will be in New Jersey where Amtrak is currently working on design and engineering for a $450 million track, power distribution, and signal upgrade project. The project, expected to begin in 2013, will raise speeds on the corridor by 2017.

Also this week, Amtrak will begin testing of recently upgraded 110 mph trackage between Dwight and Pontiac, Ill., on the Lincoln Service corridor. The test train will be based in Bloomington.

[davefoxx]

I'm surprised that one of the stretches is from Perryville to Wilmington.  I would have thought that there was a couple of curves (between Elkton and North East in particular) that would have kept the speed down.

[Bob Bufkin]

Dave your gonna have to go over and check it out.  Wouldn't stand near those curve tho.

[trainforfun]

If you go , stay on the inside of the curve , just in case ...