Apparently you gotta have rail to make rail. The Northeast Corridor, the one area of the country with high-speed rail service (Acela) and the only part where Amtrak's not just borrowing the tracks from freight companies, is getting $745 million from the Department of Transportation for rail upgrades.
In the short term, the money will go towards upgrading electrical systems, making trains run closer to schedule, and adding more ways for trains to dodge around the Amtrak mixing bowl on the way into New York City. In the long term, Acela trains will run on improved tracks with top speeds up to 186 MPH (currently they run at 135, which will soon increase to 160).
Bonus: The improvements are supposed to create 12,000 jobs. (Not to mention making life easier for a lot of jet-setting CEOs! Trickle-down, people, trickle-down.)
