The Federal Railroad Administration has developed a vision that would upgrade Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor over the next three decades and extend service to Philadelphia International Airport.
The airport is currently served by SEPTA trains. A trip to the airport from Wilmington via SEPTA is lengthy.
“The Department of Transportation believes that investing in this vision for the Northeast Corridor must happen—because rail does more than take us places; it provides us with opportunities and connects us to the future,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “While building this recommendation would require significant investment, the cost of doing nothing is much greater. The communities and the economies of the Northeast cannot grow and flourish without significant, new investment.”
The vision, if fully implemented would cost $120 billion and lead to portions of the route having 220 mile-an-hour speeds.
Amtrak employs 1,000 in Delaware. Wilmington is the 11th busiest station in the Amtrak passenger rail system. Amtrak employs more than 1,000 in Delaware in maintenance, dispatching and other operations.
In 2012, all Northeast states and the Federal Railroad Administration began working together to develop a vision that would help guide and coordinate planning and investments. For more than four years, and including numerous agency and public meetings, the Northeast states and FRA engaged stakeholders about their ideas, hopes, recommendations and concerns. The outreach included broad stakeholder engagement from individuals, elected leaders, civic organizations in small townships and business leaders.
What quickly became clear is that the corridor’s current capacity is vastly inadequate, a release from the Federal Railroad Administration.
The recommendation announced by the FRA would increase reliability and provide more options by:
– Adding new tracks to increase the Northeast Corridor to four tracks in most locations, which would allow for more frequent and faster service. Additional tracks would be added to areas with greater demand.
– Providing intercity access to Philadelphia Airport so that passengers do not have to change trains at 30th Street.
– Adding direct and frequent service to Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass.
– Increasing, and in some cases doubling, the number of regional trains and providing up to five times more intercity trains.
The recommendation would improve travel times:
– Travel from Boston to New York City would be 45 minutes faster (total time of 2 hours, 45 minutes).
– Travel from New York City to Washington, D.C., would be 35 minutes faster (total time of 2 hours, 10 minutes).
While the recommendation would grow the role of rail along the Northeast Corridor, it also calls for bringing the current corridor back to good condition, or a state of good repair, first.
With the corridor returned to good condition, the recommendation includes projects that will allow for even faster and more reliable service, along with more options for commuters and travelers. The recommendation is also projected to create 47,000 jobs each year, for 30 years with more than $100 billion in spending.
It will now be up to states, cities and railroads to take next steps and decide whether to move forward with any specific projects.
“FRA believes that today’s recommendation is a strong one and should move forward. To do that, it will require the business community, railroads, states, Congress and the millions of people who use the NEC every day to make it clear that this is a necessary and worthy investment,” the release stated.
For more information, visit www.necfuture.com
