Northeast Corridor

Northeast Corridor
Amtrak Acela Express near Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Overview
Type	High-speed rail Higher-speed rail Inter-city rail Commuter rail
System	Amtrak CSX Transportation Norfolk Southern Railway Providence and Worcester Railroad
Status	Operational
Locale	Northeastern megalopolis
Termini	Boston South Station Washington, D.C Union Station
Stations	108 (30 Amtrak stations, 78 commuter-rail-only stations)
Ridership	11,396,006 (total, FY2013)
Operation
Opened	1834 (first section) 1917 (final section)
Owner	Massachusetts (Boston - MA/RI border) Amtrak (MA/RI border - New Haven) Connecticut Department of Transportation (New Haven - CT/NY border) Metro-North Railroad (CT/NY border - New Rochelle) Amtrak (New Rochelle - Washington)
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Technical
Line length	453.3 mi (729.5 km)
Number of tracks	2-6
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead catenary 25 kV at 60 Hz (Boston to Mill River) 12.5 kV at 60 Hz (Mill River to Sunnyside Yard) 12 kV at 25 Hz (Sunnyside to Washington D.C.)
Operating speed	150 mph (240 km/h) (Acela) 125 mph (201 km/h) (other)
Route map Sections owned by Amtrak are in red; sections with commuter service are highlighted in blue.

The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railway line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to Washington, D.C.. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and service frequency as of 2013. Branches to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Massachusetts, though not considered part of the Northeast Corridor, see frequent service from routes that run largely on the corridor.

The corridor is used by many Amtrak trains, including the high-speed Acela Express, intercity trains, and several long-distance trains. Most of the corridor also has frequent commuter rail service, operated by the MBTA, Shore Line East, Metro-North Railroad, New Jersey Transit, SEPTA, and MARC. Several companies run freight trains over sections of the NEC.

Much of the line is built for speeds higher than the 79 mph (127 km/h) allowed on many U.S. tracks. Amtrak can operate intercity Northeast Regional and Keystone Service trains at up to 125 mph (201 km/h), as well as North America's only high-speed train, the Acela Express, which runs up to 150 mph (241 km/h) on several sections in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Acela covers the 225 miles (362 km) between New York and Washington, D.C., in under 3 hours, and the 229 miles (369 km) between New York and Boston in under 3.5 hours. Under Amtrak's $151 billion Northeast Corridor plan, which hopes to roughly halve travel times by 2040, trips between New York and Washington would take 94 minutes.