United States


on the line for the NEC Amtrak lays it


Amtrak’s revised vision for the Northeast Corridor calls for bold investments of $US 110bn to improve existing infrastructure and to construct a new dedicated high-speed line over the next 30 years. Kevin Smith examines the plans for North America’s most important passenger railway.


economic powerhouse. Around 50 million people live in the megatropolis that stretches along the eastern seaboard from Washington DC, to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, with its economy worth $US 2.6 trillion, or 20% of the US’ entire GDP. However, with the population expected to increase by 30% to 65 million by 2030, existing infrastructure is not expected to cope with the anticipated spike in demand, stifling economic growth and prosperity. Already highways are clogged with cars and trucks during peak hours while many of the region’s airports and railways are at capacity. Rail services are also compounded by relatively slow line speeds when compared with similar urban areas in other developed countries. Delays are frequent with even minor problems having a rippling effect on reliability across the region. Federally-held passenger operator


T IRJ September 2012


HE northeast of the United States is the country’s most densely populated region and its


Amtrak owns most of the railway infrastructure that makes up the 735km Northeast Corridor (NEC), the region’s primary railway artery. In addition to its 30 million annual passengers, more than 200 million commuters on eight operators’ services travel on 2000 daily passenger trains on the route along with 70 freight trains.


While the NEC’s ridership is


impressive, its services often are not. The average speed on the entire route is 135km/h with only short sections in Rhode Island and Massachusetts capable of accommodating the Acela Express’ top speed of 240km/h. Amtrak has long recognised the need to improve the NEC, particularly with ridership projected to increase by 60% by 2030, and ageing infrastructure, much of which dates back to the late 19th century, incapable of supporting the levels of service required for successful operation. The NEC Infrastructure Master Plan


released in May 2010 presented a strategy for required system repairs,


upgrades and some capacity enhancement to help handle growing traffic levels. The plan called for a $US 52bn investment, and as a collaborative effort between 12 states and the District of Columbia, Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), eight commuter operators and three freight railways, it demonstrated widespread support for improvements to NEC infrastructure. Amtrak considers greater division of high-speed, inter-city and regional services as the solution to the capacity constraints experienced on the NEC. It subsequently followed up the Master Plan with its September 2010 document A Vision for High Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridorwhich presented the concept of a new 687km dedicated double-track high-speed line from Washington DC to Boston. The $US 117bn line would be designed for 354km/h operation with five hub stations, four city stations, and 10 regional or intermodal stations with connections and integrated operations


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