The Future is Bright for Northeastern Rail Riders

So. I’m still a rail travel nerd – there’s no other method that makes long-distance travel so comfortable and enjoyable – but since I’ve moved to Amtrak’s core area in the northeastern megalopolis, I’ve yet to set foot on one of their trains.

Don’t get me wrong – I take NJ Transit aplenty, you’re a moron if you voluntarily drive into New York for leisure unless you have some reason to want to avoid the kind of security that Penn Station or Hoboken Terminal attract – but I haven’t really had the need to take an intercity rail trip in the past three years.

Still, it’s probably time to take a look at what Amtrak is doing in my general vicinity, and as it turns out, there’s a lot going on thanks to the impact of the whopping transportation bill recently signed by President Obama. It seems that the ailing Northeast Corridor, one of the busiest rail routes in the world, will benefit greatly.

For one thing, the legislation financially divides the viable Northeast Corridor – which is slated to bring in around $450 million in profits this year – from the rest of the Amtrak system, which will lose more than $500 million this year.

By keeping its own operating revenues, the Northeast Corridor will be able to pay for its own improvements, eventually increasing the average speed of trains and theoretically improving ridership and profitability.

The Corridor’s Acela service, currently America’s highest-speed passenger rail at speeds of up to 150 mph, will receive new higher capacity trains capable of traveling at 160 mph on current rail configurations, with the ability to accelerate to 220 mph when improvements are made.

More importantly, after being torpedoed by Gov. Chris Christie and floating in limbo for several years, a project to expand access to Manhattan from New Jersey looks like it will proceed. Earlier this year, New York, New Jersey and the Port Authority of NY/NJ agreed on cost structuring for the project if the federal government and Amtrak agree to cover half.

Theoretically, within 10-15 years, there should be 220 mph train service along much of the Northeast Corridor. The impact would be drastic, as travel times between Boston and New York are currently around 2 hours, 45 minutes and between New York and Washington just under 3 hours. With 220 mph service, those travel times could be reduced to around an hour on each segment and the train average out cheaper and faster than the short-hop air service between  the cities.

With additional higher-speed connections from the Northeast Corridor to Richmond, Lynchburg, Harrisburg, Allentown, Scranton, Albany, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Hartford and Springfield either built or in the planning stages, some semblance of a mature rail network is taking shape in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions.

Coming up: I’m going to look at the private versus public debate in high speed rail development, and discuss the impact of sub-$40 oil on passenger trains.

Let's Get Moving (again)

Well that was a long hiatus.

Actually, it hasn’t been that long with the way transportation policy has moved over the past several years. Until last week, the U.S. federal transportation budget has been surviving on extensions of transportation legislation dating back 10 years or so.

The FAST Act devotes $305 billion to the federal surface transportation program over five years, and has big implications for passenger rail travel.

Amtrak will receive $10 billion in funding over the duration of the bill, which also officially separates the Northeast corridor and connecting regional lines from public/private train system’s long-distance trains.

That means the Northeast Corridor, which brings in $400 million in profits annually, can now re-invest in itself.

Other recent good news includes a partnership between the feds, New Jersey, New York, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to construct new tunnel(s) under the Hudson River into Manhattan.

To remind you, this is important because NJ Transit and Amtrak have estimated that the current 100+ year-old tunnels will need to be closed for repairs within the next 20 years. Traveling in New Jersey already sucks, the last thing we need is to go from 40 trains to six trains both ways each hour through the Hudson Tubes.

I would expect that in the coming weeks, you’ll hear more about FAST, the progress of high speed rail in California, Illinois, Nevada, Florida, and Texas, and the woes of driving and train-riding in eastern New Jersey.

Author’s note: I have a new gig. Read about it here.