High Speed Rail

In 1992 the U.S. Department of Transportation initiated a high-speed rail corridor program under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). This program designated corridors in California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, Florida and the Southeast.

In 1998, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) expanded the high-speed rail corridor program to include the Gulf Coast Corridor, Keystone Corridor* and Empire Corridor.

The Northern New England and South Central corridors were designated in October 2000.

The Northeast Corridor is not officially designated as a high speed rail corridor, but the trains operate at high speeds. It gets its "high speed" status from the definition of "high speed corridor" found in the Federal 4R Act from 1976.