Amtrak's high-speed rail project is designed to carry passengers from Boston to New York in 3 hours and from New York to Washington, D.C. in just less than 3 hours. A major component in the successful completion of the project was the electrification program between Boston and New Haven. In order to provide the power to these high speed trains, this portion of the corridor needed new wiring and structural steel support. 

Additionally, decisions had to be made to protect the new steel from the harsh New England environment. The single largest hot-dip galvanizing project in the United States, the galvanizer produced 17,000 tons (15,422 tonnes) of steel for the Northeast Corridor Electrification Project. After reviewing several options for corrosion prevention systems, the engineers specified hot-dip galvanizing for all the exposed steel on the project. Major considerations in choosing galvanizing were the ability to produce and deliver within a tight schedule without concern for the weather, long-term, maintenance-free corrosion prevention, technical expertise to handle unforeseen situations, a competitive initial cost, and lower life-cycle cost.