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Biden announces new high-speed rail service for Northeast

One of Amtrak’s most loyal customers, Vice President Joe Biden, announced Friday the company will buy 28 new high-speed trains to pep up travel in the Northeast Corridor.

The 28 new trains can travel nearly 190 miles per hour, they’re more than 25 percent more efficient and they can get you from New York City to Washington D.C. in half an hour.

They also carry more people and will make more frequent trips in the region.

Biden says investing in this type of infrastructure in particular will draw businesses back from overseas, but only if opponents in Congress stop blocking efforts to pay for it.

“Why in this country are we so boneheaded to not understand the essential value of a rail system that’s modern throughout the whole country? Why do we argue about whether or not it makes sense,” he said.

The nearly $2.5 billion federal loan Amtrak took out will also pay for safety improvements along the corridor, some pieces of which were built in the 19th century.

Biden calls these rail lines part of the “overall security net” of the country.

“You’d need seven more lanes on I-95, seven more lanes on I-95 to accommodate the traffic if Amtrak shut down.”

He says temporary train service blackouts, like during 9/11, show how critical passenger rail service is for the country.

But with a $7 billion backlog of maintenance, Amtrak's allies want Congress to divert more money towards America's public rail service.

"Just like we wouldn't want to go out and buy one of these new [Tesla cars] for $100,000, $200,000 and let them ride on gravel roads, we can't buy these trains and send them out to ride on the Northeast Corridor or outside the Northeast Corridor on the kind of infrastructure we have," said Sen. Tom Carper (D).

Other, smaller countries have boasted robust high-speed rail service for years, which the vice president, Carper and others speaking at the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station said the U.S. should strive toward.

Amtrak officials say the trains will begin service by 2021.