A lot of this seems like a policy issue though- Why do trains only top out around 60mph? There is no technical limitation that I know of that would prevent them

A lot of this seems like a policy issue though- Why do trains only top out around 60mph? There is no technical limitation that I know of that would prevent them from going faster in most places. Giving them a leg up on cars would induce demand dramatically IMHO. Its such a better ride as well- I mean I love getting a nice stretch of open road where you can go 60-80mph and such, but the reality of most travel in the northeast is just traffic and congestion and a lot of paying attention to that dude in the SUV who seems like he wants to jump in your lane without so much as a blinker of warning. We have massively funded our highways, claim that Amtrak is a suck of taxpayer funds and do the bare minimum for it, and then complain about traffic, it's quite irrational.