Several articles on what Amtrak needs on the NEC and HSR is not first priority.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/amtrak-obama-promise-bullet-trains-new-bridge-20150420
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/04/8-critical-rail-projects-that-amtrak-cant-afford/391038/
IMO these projects are all needed to prevent a failure of the nEC that would end up being called a national crisis. Then congress and the president will both be blamed. It is not improving 125 MPH to 160 MPH speeds for 48 miles ( Newark - Trenton ) saving ~ 5 minutes over any of the listed projects will save 5 minutes or more with the additional importance of improving reliability.
IMO these projects are all needed to prevent a failure of the NEC that would end up being called a national crisis. Then congress and the president will both be blamed. It is not improving 125 MPH to 160 MPH speeds for 48 miles ( Newark - Trenton ) saving ~ 5 minutes over any of the listed projects that will save 5 minutes. Rather the additional importance of improving reliability.
New brunswick will save even less time of about ~ 4 minutes. Both improvements would only be for Acelas since regionals and LD are or will be limited to 125 MPH. Also no acceleration decelaration times have been noted which are ~ 1 minute both ways for each stop.. So 2 minutes and 3 minutes saved at the maximum for the legs. Remove the slow sections will save more time per dollar spent.
Please bear in mind that most of the "improvements" are rectifications of past (in most cases long past) due maintenance. (The loop at Adams is for enhanced commuter operations.) The NEC is such a basket case that regular maintenance is no longer viable. The whole thing needs to be torn down and rebuilt from the catenary to the tunnels and everything in between. That said, since freight is all but banned from the Nothing Else Counts loosing it will not constitute a "crisis."
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
D.Carleton ... That said, since freight is all but banned from the Nothing Else Counts loosing it will not constitute a "crisis."
... That said, since freight is all but banned from the Nothing Else Counts loosing it will not constitute a "crisis."
The NEC is a major passenger carrier in its lane. NY airports and I-95 are near capacity. Congress' seeming concern for the NEC as the only really critical part of Amtrak, indicates that even they understand how its loss would be a crisis.
MidlandMike The NEC is a major passenger carrier in its lane. NY airports and I-95 are near capacity. Congress' seeming concern for the NEC as the only really critical part of Amtrak, indicates that even they understand how its loss would be a crisis.
So what are we to do about this, eh? Write your congress critter? Write your governor? Write a letter to the editor, that is if your town still has a newspaper? Frankly, I have had it with wringing my hands raw. This is a can that has been kicked down the road so many times it has racked up frequent flier miles. When the worst comes to pass, one of the tubes into Penn Station suffers a catastrophic failure or a bridge collapses with or without fatalities, then those in authority will feign surprise and make a call to "action" in front of the cameras of a hastily called press conference. Remember, suffering and disaster is a chance for politicos to show they "care." Fingers will wag, hearings will be held and hot air will profligately spew with all of the righteous indignation they can muster between junkets. This is rerun I'm sick of watching and changed the channel long ago. Crisis? You mean it's real this time? Don't make me laugh.
Another article givig further support.
I am amazed at how little money is projected for the B&P tunnel project - at 2 tracks and 30 MPH that is THE major bottleneck on the NEC.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Balt: As read the $310M is only for design and preliminary construction.
blue streak 1 Balt: As read the $310M is only for design and preliminary construction.
So, in fact, $310M for no capital improvement.
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