Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor
The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from the current southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor in Washington, D.C.. Routes would extend south via Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, with a spur to Norfolk in Virginia's Hampton Roads region; the mainline would continue south to Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Since the corridor was first established in 1992, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has extended it further to Atlanta, Georgia and Macon, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama.
Expanding the Long Bridge over the Potomac River from two to four tracks will allow a doubling of the amount of Amtrak service between Washington D.C. and Virginia, including services proposed under the SEHSR plan.
High-speed rail in the United States
Plans for high-speed rail in the United States date back to the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965. Various state and federal proposals have followed. Despite being one of the world's first countries to get high-speed trains, it failed to spread. Definitions of what constitutes high-speed rail vary, including a range of speeds over 110 mph (180 km/h) and dedicated rail lines. Inter-city rail with top speeds between 90 and 125 mph is sometimes referred to in the United States as higher-speed rail.
Amtrak Acela train at Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Streamlined 4-6-2 "President"-class steam locomotive on B&O's New York–Washington, D.C. Royal Blue in 1937
Burlington Pioneer Zephyr passenger train approaching station and waiting passengers at East Dubuque, Illinois, in 1940
Metroliner trains were developed in the U.S. for rapid service between New York and Washington, DC.