Amtrak Envisions World Class High-Speed Rail

[brooklynite]

Source: Amtrak

PHILADELPHIA – A Next-Generation High-Speed Rail service could be successfully developed in the Northeast with trains operating up to 220 mph (354 kph) on a new two-track corridor resulting in a trip time of about three hours between Washington and Boston cutting in half or better the current schedules, according to a concept plan released today by Amtrak.

At an average speed of 137 mph (220 kph), a trip between Washington and New York would take just 96 minutes, about one hour faster than today. For the trip between New York and Boston, the average speed would be 148 mph (238 kph) and take just 84 minutes, or a time savings of more than two hours.

“Amtrak is putting forward a bold vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast for generations,” said President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The Amtrak concept plan, A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor (NEC), shows a financially viable route could be developed. Upon its full build-out in 2040, high-speed train ridership would approach 18 million passengers with room to accommodate up to 80 million annually as demand increases in the years and decades that follow. Departures of high-speed trains would expand from an average of one to four per hour in each direction, with additional service in the peak periods, and total daily high-speed rail departures would increase from 42 today to as many as 148 in 2040.

The service would generate an annual operating surplus of approximately $900 million and its construction would create more than 40,000 full-time jobs annually over a 25-year construction period to build the new track, tunnels, bridges, stations, and other infrastructure.

and make it a truly high speed rail line is the type of innovative thinking we need to get cars off the road, decrease pollution and put people to work improving America’s infrastructure,” stated Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). “I applaud the plan and pledge to work with Amtrak to improve the Northeast Corridor and make a America a leader in high speed rail.”

“Amtrak’s High Speed Rail plan will create jobs, cut pollution and help us move towards a modern and reliable transportation system network in the Northeast,” said Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.). “As countries around the world continue to build out their transportation systems, we cannot afford to fall further behind. This is an important down payment on the massive commitment necessary to bridge our infrastructure gap.”

With an investment of $4.7 billion annually over 25 years, a major national transportation asset would be built to support the growth and competitive position of the Northeast region. Its population, economic densities and growing intercity travel demand make it one of the premier “mega-regions” of the world, and an ideal market for world-class high-speed passenger rail service.

“The results show the concept of a world-class high-speed rail service would help relieve congestion across all modes of transportation, spur jobs creation and economic productivity, reduce carbon emissions and improve the quality of the environment,” said Al Engel, incoming Amtrak Vice President for High-Speed Rail.

The specific high-speed alignment, stations, maintenance yards and other facilities that were analyzed in the report represent only one of a wide range of possible network and service configurations that could be developed. The analyzed concepts reflect the study’s underlying underlying goals (i.e., aggressive travel time savings, station locations in downtown areas) and detailed preliminary planning and engineering assessments. These concepts would undergo numerous revisions, refinements and changes under more detailed study, and other concepts with different alignments would likely be further reviewed at that time.

As America’s intercity passenger rail service provider and its only high-speed rail operator, Amtrak has a vital, leading and necessary role to play in expanding and operating high-speed rail service. Just as leading countries throughout Europe and Asia are expanding existing high-speed rail networks and developing new systems, Next-Generation High-Speed Rail must be part of a balanced transportation future in major travel corridors across the U.S.

An NEC Infrastructure Master Plan issued earlier this year predicted that the capacity gains achieved within the current NEC “footprint” would be maxed out by 2030. The Next-Generation High-Speed Rail system will provide the necessary new capacity to meet growing demand well beyond 2030. By operating the highest-speed trains on the new infrastructure, capacity on the existing NEC would become available for additional commuter and conventional intercity passenger trains as well as for freight operations.

A copy of the report is available on Amtrak.com.

Read more: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241267278292

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This strategy is in fact the right approach (exclusive rights-of-way, straight-lined track etc.) to follow if we're going to be serious about a national High-Speed Rail. But at $117 B (for the NEC alone) over 30 years, I'll wait to see if the check clears before getting excited.

[Radical Activist]

1. They should do it for other corridors as well.

[foxfeet]

3. +1 for common sense. nt

[HillbillyBob]

4. For real from where I live it takes longer by train to get to wdc

than to drive. If they had high speed I would use it...if their sched did not have overnight or several hrs layovers.

[Hannah Bell]

2. if you build it they will come. the us rail system has been allowed to crumble criminally.

[HillbillyBob]

5. Yes it has, and we can blame congess for strangling it.

they did not provide enough funding from the get go and when it did increase it was not enough to actually maintain the thing.

[COLGATE4]

7. Absolutely!!! Our rail system was once the envy of the world.

But since WWII, particularly at the insistence of the car companies and petroleum companies the rail system has been allowed to wither and die on the vine. The problem now is that going to high speed rail involves a huge expenditure of capital to create the rail-bed system capable of handling trains at the speeds required. Whether there will be a continuing commitment for the huge amount of funds involved to 1) build it and 2) sustain it until rider demand rises is an open question.

[nyc 4 Biden]

8. The automotive industry has had a major hand in dismantling rail projects...

similar to what they did to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_streetcar_scandal">the street car.

even more...
In a 1922 memo that will live in infamy, GM President Alfred P. Sloan established a unit aimed at dumping electrified mass transit in favor of gas-burning cars, trucks and buses.

Just one American family in 10 then owned an automobile. Instead, we loved our 44,000 miles of passenger rail routes managed by 1,200 companies employing 300,000 Americans who ran 15 billion annual trips generating an income of $1 billion. According to Snell, "virtually every city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system."

But GM lost $65 million in 1921. So Sloan enlisted Standard Oil (now Exxon), Philips Petroleum, glass and rubber companies and an army of financiers and politicians to kill mass transit.

The campaigns varied, as did the economic and technical health of many of the systems themselves. Some now argue that buses would have transcended many of the rail lines anyway. More likely, they would have hybridized and complemented each other.

But with a varied arsenal of political and financial subterfuges, GM helped gut the core of America's train and trolley systems. It was the murder of our rail systems that made our "love affair" with the car a tragedy of necessity.

In 1949 a complex federal prosecution for related crimes resulted in an anti-trust fine against GM of a whopping $5000. For years thereafter GM continued to bury electric rail systems by "bustituting" gas-fired vehicles.

Then came the interstates. After driving his Allied forces into Berlin on Hitler's Autobahn, Dwight Eisenhower brought home a passion for America's biggest public works project. Some 40,000 miles of vital eco-systems were eventually paved under.
...
http://www.truth-out.org/111708C

[Kingofalldems]

6. Yeah! Yeah!

Once people see it firsthand they will clamor for it.

[swilton]

9. Long Overdue!

Rah! Rah! Rah!

I also hope they do something about the cuisine on board.

[unblock]

10. i swear i read this article 20 years ago.

even some of the names are the same, lautenberg, kerry, next-generation high speed rail.

[Dawson Leery]

11. A GOP takeover of congress wil ensure the death of this program.

[JDPriestly]

12. Great. The voters of California also want this here.

There is no direct-rail service between Los Angeles and Palo Alto. Can you believe that? You have to get off the train at a certain point and transfer to a bus. It's pitiful. Train travel is so much more comfortable than air. You can actually squirm in your seat without assaulting your neighbors.

[matt819]

13. The operative word there is "envision"

I envision myself tall, rich, and handsome, but it almost certainly ain't going to happen. So, here they are, envisioning stuff that other countries have been doing for decades. Kind of makes you wonder, if JFK were president today, he'd say, "We are going to have high-speed rail in all key markets, by the end of the decade. . . or if we can find the funding, or maybe within a couple of decades. Or not. We'll see. If we can, we will. And if we can't, well, what the hell."

[bc3000]

14. That sounds great, for rich people.

The rest of us can take the bus I guess.

[valerief]

15. I LOVE it!!!! nt

[Theobald]

16. If high speed rail is going to be viable in the US

then the Northeast corrider should be the one it works best.