Acela isn&#x27;t &quot;high-speed&quot; rail, it&#x27;s basically normal rail with high-speed hardware which occasionally goes fast enough to barely clear the threshold for calling it &quot;high speed.&quot;<p>Acela averages less than 70MPH. In a proper high-speed system that would be more like 180MPH. Boston to DC would be 2.5 hours, vastly faster than flying once you account for airport nonsense.