Update from August 11th: There are ramblings about the maximum speeds already being changed since July, before I even made this post. I may have shot myself in the foot here although the original editor of the edits I “reverted” presumably didn’t know about the actual rule changes either.

I’ve tried requesting the newest ETT on August 8th and I received the same ETT I already had. The speed changes may have been issued by general order without a general ETT update. As I still have no hard evidence, I can’t yet modify the speed limits yet. It may be necessary to wait for revenue service if nobody can point me to the document I need to request.

On the bright side while going through all of this, I had a chance to closely review speed limits in the Rhode Island and Massachusetts areas. The editors (presumably stevea at least at first) had a solid understanding of the speed change boundaries.

While researching the editor(s), I encountered a changeset that has a URL to yet another ETT I don’t have. Amazing.

https://web.archive.org/web/20121019023013/www.acm.jhu.edu//~sthurmovik/movies/NEC_GO_301_1-18-10.pdf

End update

https://archive.org/details/AMTK-NEC-employee-timetable-20250505-si

This is the most up to date Northeast Corridor Employee Timetable (ETT) I’ve requested, published May 5, 2025. It contains Amtrak’s maximum authorized speeds on the Northeast Corridor. The Acela 2’s planned speeds (mostly focusing on changing 150 to 160 mph) have not yet been integrated into the rules by Amtrak, despite the observed or assumed compatibility with 160 mph service by track class, catenary structure or demonstration in recent test runs. The current runs remain just that: test runs.

There are currently 4 sections of 150 mph (for Type A trains and on the “main” or “inner” two tracks) on the Northeast Corridor:

• New Jersey: Midway & CP Clark

• Rhode Island #1: MP 154.3 & MP 171.7, except Cv MP 159.7 & MP 160.5 and Cv MP 170.5 & MP 170.9

• Rhode Island #2: MP 174.5 & MP 180.5, except Cv MP 180.1 & MP 180.2 and Cv MP 180.2 & MP 180.5

• Massachusetts: MP 194.5 & MP 205

New Jersey, County & Midway is really close at 145 mph (except 3 curves) and I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that.

One of two things needs to happen before OSM can be updated with the new speeds:

• A new ETT is issued with blanket authorization of new speeds (perhaps without even authorizing any actual train type)

• A revenue run is observed at the new speeds

I’ve set up this tag regime to give editors a signal that the maximum speed data is extremely recent and not just based on casual observation:

• planned:maxspeed=”160 mph”

• source:maxspeed=”Amtrak ETT 2025-05-05”

I’ve additionally set planned:maxspeed=”160 mph” on the “between CP Clark & Ham” section as that is actually planned and possibly under construction.

There may be changes in speeds on certain curves which is why I would prefer to wait for a new ETT anyway so all changes can be done at once.

If you are an Amtrak employee or someone in the know and you learn of a new ETT publication with new speed information, let me know about the publication date so I can request it. I have no direct way of knowing when new ETT publications come out.