Federal planners have refined their choices for the
future of the Northeast Corridor's passenger rail service, but they haven't
attached cost estimates to any of the alternatives, from minimal service
improvements to an entirely new high-speed corridor between Washington and
Boston.
The "NEC Future" planners will be in
Philadelphia later this month to discuss the plans and the process with the
public.
The four broad alternatives outlined by the Federal
Railroad Administration this week are the latest steps in planning for
upgrading the NEC over the next 25 years.
A final proposal, including estimated costs and
construction schedules, is to be released by late 2016, after environmental-impact
studies are completed, project manager Rebecca Reyes-Alicea said Thursday.
The goal is to lay out a feasible plan for investing in
the nation's busiest rail corridor through 2040, with proposals for updated
equipment, more trains, new stations and possible new routes.
Without an infusion of money to revamp the overcrowded,
outdated corridor, the Northeast's economic future will be stifled, the FRA
said. The region now generates 20 percent of the country's gross domestic
product.
Any action to implement the FRA's plan would require
approval and financing from Congress.
Although the FRA has not made any cost estimates yet,
Amtrak has said it would require more than $10 billion to simply restore the
rail corridor to a state of good repair and $151 billion to develop a separate
high-speed corridor between Washington and Boston to accommodate trains
traveling at 220 m.p.h. and cut the travel time between Philadelphia and New
York to 37 minutes.
The alternatives outlined this week by the FRA are:
"No
action" - A "substantial" increase in maintenance and
renewal spending from current levels, just to continue today's service in the
457-mile corridor through 2040.
Alternative 1 -
New rail service to keep pace with population growth, doubling train service
and tripling the number of seats. Would include a new tunnel under the Hudson
River with two more tracks for service to and from Manhattan. It would not
provide "meaningful travel-time improvements."
Alternative 2
- New service and route improvements to grow rail service faster than the
population. The entire corridor would have at least four tracks, with six
tracks in New Jersey and southwestern Connecticut. A new downtown station in
Philadelphia, with a stop at Philadelphia International Airport (30th Street
Station would continue to serve regional trains).
Alternative 3 -
"Transformative" improvements, including a second, high-speed NEC
route that would parallel the existing corridor south of New York City and take
a new route north of New York. Would position rail "as a dominant mode for
intercity travelers and commuters across the NEC."
The options are being developed to give the public and
policymakers enough information to decide what rail service they want and how
much they're willing to spend to get it, Reyes-Alicea said Thursday.
"Reliability is a key piece, and we struggle with
that today," she said. "Down the road, we are going to have to throw
in an element of cost, so we can determine what we're willing to invest
in."
The current rail corridor, which handles more than 2,000
Amtrak, commuter and freight trains daily, suffers from major congestion and
delays, and "many components of the system are in a state of disrepair or,
worse, and have reached the point of obsolescence," the FRA says.
The FRA is holding a series of "open house"
meetings in major NEC cities this month.
The Philadelphia session will be Nov. 19, from 4 p.m. to
7 p.m., at SEPTA headquarters at 1234 Market St.
The full report on the preliminary alternatives is
available at http://www.necfuture.com/
Source: Philly.com
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