Amtrak envisions 220 mph service in Northeast Corridor

Written by jrood

February 14, 2001 A Next-Generation High-Speed Rail service could be successfully developed in the Northeast with trains operating up to 220 mph 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 by Amtrak.

At an average speed of
137 mph, 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 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, 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. More than 120,000 permanent jobs in improved economic
productivity along the corridor and in rail operations are predicted by 2040.

In addition to
significant travel time savings between major cities, tremendous mobility
improvements would come with environmental, energy and congestion mitigation
benefits. The new transportation capacity obtained with this investment will
allow a larger share of the intercity travel market to be via high-speed rail,
strengthening sustainable, energy-efficient development in the corridor’s
metropolitan areas.

"Amtrak’s plan to
modernize the Northeast Corridor 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 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.

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.

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