Amtrak To Run Test Trains At 165 MPH in Northeast

Amtrak is going to break the speed limit this week in the Northeast Corridor.

The rail service announced Monday it will operate test trains overnight at 165 mph in four stretches from Maryland to Massachusetts.

Acela Express equipment will be used for the tests, starting Monday night in New Jersey.

All the locations may one day have regular 160 mph service. Amtrak says tests need to be performed at 5 mph above what is expected to be a maximum operating speed of 160 mph.

Two test locations — from Perryville, Md., to Wilmington, Del., and from Trenton to New Brunswick,  — currently have a speed limit of 135 mph. The two others — in Rhode Island from Westerly to Cranston and in Massachusetts from South Attleboro to Readville — currently have 150 mph limits.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)