Amtrak has released its Feb 2011 request for funds returned by some states to upgrade the NEC. This is the first request that has some Amtrak Gateway projects (220 MPH HSR). Amtrak is asking for almost $1.3B in funds for either construction or engineering and EA for 5 projects. The US DOT decided to name the NEC a “federally designated HSR corridor” a few days ago and Amtrak must have had this proposal ready to go. News wire had a short brief of this proposal but made one dollar amount mistake. Amtrak says each proposal is coordinated with the states involved. Projects are first step for the proposed 220 MPH HSR line NYP –WASH.
1. Gateway project (GW)----Portal bridge $720M. Amtrak $570M state of NJ up to $150M. Completion date Sept 2017. Construct a high level 2 track, fixed span north of the present portal swing bridge. This will also pave way of a new 2 track span south of the present portal bridge. (no construction 2nd bridge in this request)
2. (GW)-----New Hudson river tunnels. --- $188M. Complete June 2015. Preliminary engineering and Environmental Analysis (EA) . Also work to engineer 4 track main Newark to New York and approach trackage to new Hudson river tunnels.
3. (GW) ----- Penn Station Expansion ---- $50M Complete September 2015. Preliminary engineering and EA for new Penn South station, operational connections to NYP, design at Penn south and for tracks, platforms, (and future connections to 5th and 6th East river tunnels but not stated here but in Vision report).. ,
4. NEC project ----- Power, signal, and track improvements. $450M Complete September 2017. Final design and construction. Intended to compliment Gateway project by upgrading infrastructure (Power, CAT {constant tension}, signals, track upgrades {probably straighten the 2 “S” curves at Elizabeth and Lincoln}) from New Brunswick, NJ thru Trenton to Morrisville, Pa. (approximately 27 miles ?) supposed to make this whole route capable of 160 MPH. Also upgrade present west entrance tracks to NYP in anticipation of new tunnels, new station, and mitigate some congestion ( speed restrictions ?) at west end.
5. NEC project ------- Pelham Bay bridge replacement. $15M complete March 2014. Preliminary engineering and EA to determine bride replacement options including a new high fixed bridge for speeds up from 45 to 110. Also Prelim engineering and EA of to change track and curve alignments for 5 mile stretch from Pelham bay over Hell gate to raise speeds to 85MPH. (to Harold ?) (maybe the 3rd track back in on Hell gate?).
Conclusions: Portal bridge ready to start if not already? There is no statement of the desired top of rail to CAT clearance in this proposal either #2, #3, #4. --- #4 may save 8 minutes travel time and new portal bridge advertized to save 1 – 2 minutes. This still will not get NYP – PHL to 1 hour on the Acela unless there was a super express non stop . Maybe 1:15 NE regional trains NYP – PHL. Still not 2:30 NYP – Wash on Acela.
Will Christie blink on #1? Amtrak must feel most engineering on the new Hudson river tunnels has been completed? Final clearance guage will be interesting. Finally some work to add constant tension CAT on the NEC. Wonder if CAT will be built for 25Kv? With the track upgrade to 160 MPH the fluidity will be much better with the new NJ ALP-46As and ALP-45DPs capable of 125 MPH operating on this portion.
Glad to see some proposal to reduce time New Rochell - Harold wich is scheduled for 35 minutes for the 19 miles southbound now and 27 minutes northbound.
Re: Portal Bridge is about 100 years old, is only two tracks, has to be opened virtually for every row boat that floats by, and often gets stuck open. SImply: it needs to be replaced with higher span with more than two tracks. This is a no argument project, Christie can jump up and down all he wants, it has to be done and he knows it. He is also "aboard" the rest of the projects because NJ and NJT are not the only ones involved, it is a better plan for NJT and Amtrak, and the cost is more widley spread.
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henry6 Re: Portal Bridge is about 100 years old, is only two tracks, has to be opened virtually for every row boat that floats by, and often gets stuck open. SImply: it needs to be replaced with higher span with more than two tracks.
Re: Portal Bridge is about 100 years old, is only two tracks, has to be opened virtually for every row boat that floats by, and often gets stuck open. SImply: it needs to be replaced with higher span with more than two tracks.
Henry: How correct you are. The bridge has stuck eith 2 - 3 times that I know of. The only thing that puzzled me was that the north bridge is going to only be 2 tracks instead of the original proposal to have it 3 tracks and the new south bridge 2 tracks. In relation to those 5 tracks the route from Newark station to the north river and new tunnels portals were going to be 5 tracks. Any thoughts?
The things to remember. Amtrak. New Jersey. New York. NY-NJ Port Authority. New Jersey Transit. Politics. Politicians. Plans. Planners.Minutes Hours. Days. Months The last three you can reliably count on changing by design and know minutes, the hours, the days and the months. The others all can and will change depending upon the minute, the hour, the day, and the month. And each one of those mentioned could and probably will be different than any one of the other.
Plans were one way ...then changed because of the ARC tunnel...then held in abeyance...then has changed with the new Amtrak program for a tunnel...It is now 3:43PM EST Thursday, April 7. So any of this is subject to change even by the time I push post.
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