North American high-speed Rail system

The branding used in North America

The **North American high-speed rail system** (Spanish: Sistema ferroviario de alta velocidad de América del Norte) (French: Système ferroviaire à grande vitesse nord-américain) refers to a network of high-speed rail lines under construction in North America.

It is branded as **Avelia** in North America.

## History

In 1969, Penn Central introduced the **Metroliner**, in an attempt to provide high-speed rail services to the northeastern United States following in the footsteps of Japan's then-recently-introduced New Trunk Lines (better known as the *Shinkansen*). The Metroliner operated between New York City and Washington DC - with some trains terminating at Philadelphia - using pre-existing Northeast Corridor tracks at a top speed of 200 kilometres per hour.

In 1971, Amtrak (the state-owned passenger rail service operator of the United States) took over Metroliner operating duties.

In 1996, the California High Speed Rail Authority was established to lobby for a high-speed railway network in the state of California. Four years later, in December 2000, Amtrak introduced the **Acela Express**, which was intended to replace the Metroliner in the Northeast, and introduce services northward to Boston, but failed to do so until 2006 due to early technical issues with the Acela.

In 2007, the CHSRA commenced construction of its first route, which would run from San Francisco to Anaheim, via San Jose, Bakersfield and Los Angeles. In 2011 it would start building more lines, extending southwards towards San Diego.

In 2012, Amtrak, state authorities and several companies began construction of new high-speed lines across the country with the intention of providing more platforms for high-speed rail services across the United States.

In 2013, Texas Central Railway started construction of a line from Houston to Dallas, stating that services could begin as early as 2018. The company had intention to use Shinkansen technology and the same N700 Series trains seen on Japan's Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu HSR lines. Canada, Mexico and Oplana also commenced construction of high-speed lines in their countries with the same goal of establishing HSR before 2018.

In 2015, the privately-owned Japanese rail operator Shin-Nippon Railways announced its intention to operate HSR services in the United States and that it had ordered 600 trains to do so with.

In 2017, the Itancando Republic and Oplana's rail networks joined the HSR network, with a tunnel between Oplana and the Itancando Republic having been built in 2015.

## The system

The North American HSR system is a series of purpose-built railway lines designed to accomodate large numbers of high-speed passenger railway services at speeds between 280-400 kilometres per hour in regular operation. The lines are electrified at 25kV/50Hz, as with most international HSR lines.

## Rolling stock

Various types of trains, virtually all of which are imported, with different specifications and top speeds, are set to operate on the network. To assist passengers, enthusiasts and engineers in differentiating between the different rolling stock, a "class" system has been devised to categorise different types of trains based on their origin.

 B
 C
 D
 Z

## Operators

Multiple operators are planning to provide high-speed rail services using the new system.

### Amtrak

Amtrak, the state-owned passenger rail service operator of the Federation of American States, is currently heading the project in the FAS. The company currently runs *Acela Express* services between Boston and Washington using the existing Northeast Corridor, but will retire all Acela services by 2022 after its dedicated HSR line between Boston and Washington opens.

### Shin-Nippon Railways

Shin-Nippon Railways (operating in the US under the brand name "SNR") is the main privately-owned operator. It currently has plans for services across the FAS, Texas and California, including international services using some 650 trains purchased from Japanese and East Asian companies.

### Ivanlandian National Railway Corporation

Ivanlandia's state rail operator announced its intention to run high-speed services in North America using East Asian rolling stock. This company is notable for being the first amongst all the NA HSR operators to promise services with peak speeds of up to 380 kph, potentially making their trains amongst the fastest non-maglev trains in regular passenger service.

The INRC also hopes to operate 'ferries' across the ocean, creating a travel link to Oplana and Ivanlandia. These ferries would leave from a port in San Diego, from there, it will head to Palisades and El Valle respectively. It would connect with their HSR services, thus expanding the system to Oplana and Ivanlandia.

### VIA Rail Canada

VIA Rail, Canada's national state rail operator, has plans to operate services on lines from destinations in the FAS and California into Canada.

### Oplanan Rail companies

The Oplanan Rail group of companies - comprised of North, Central and Southern divisions - is responsible for operating HSR services in Oplana. Most of their trains are notable for being highly-upgraded and modified versions of regular electric trains.

### California National Rail

The result of the California High Speed Rail project, California National Rail was created to provide national railway services to the Republic of California. It is to be the main state-run operator of HSR services in California.

### TexRail

TexRail, the Republic of Texas' state operator, is planning to run the majority of HSR services in Texas.

### Texas Central Railway

The Texas Central Railway company is set to run most services on the Dallas-Houston HSR line, along with TexRail.