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2.5 times faster than any train in my wealthy, western country.

I don't know which wealthy, western country you live in, but to be clear in the US Acela trains get up to 150 mph (241 kmh) -- admittedly in a short section, but with other sections that have a top speed of 135 mph (217 kmh). The entire route from Washington to New York has an average speed (including stops) of 90mph (140 kmh).

Should Acela be faster? Probably! But people should be clear-eyed about what the reality of the situation is.

New Zealand. You know that place americans fantasize about moving to when the newly elected president has the wrong colour tie. Trains are 80km/h max.

If New Zealand is a western country do you consider Canada to be the middle east?

I never took the term "western" to be purely geographical

That might be the average scheduled speed, but it’s not my average experienced speed on Acela, with about half the trips seeing significant delays from schedule.

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