NEC master improvement plan

Trains Magazine Passenger
1

Gentlemen something has gone wrong with my computer and would not paste or edit this properly. My appologies

The Northeast corridor states and RRs + Amtrak have released their master plan to improve the corridor and get infrastructure to a “state of good repair” (SOGR)

http://www.njtransit.com/var/var_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=HighSpeedNECTo

The revised NEC infrastructure Master Plan was released as of Thursday May 20. (original pl 2007). The plan is a complete wish list for both 2030 and long rang 2050 needs complied by the states, RR operators, commuter agencies, etc. (All agencies in the main line corridor). This is a very comprehensive plan and has a few surprises and many stats. This plan uses the Amtrak PRIIA Sec 212 report of last October 19th (for improving transit times) that Amtrak released but did not submit to the FRA for lack of some environmental and other reports. The plan also admits that there are some items that the autho

2

Thanks for posting, Streak. This is where the big bucks for high speed rail should have gone instead of wasting on Ohio, Illinios, Florida and other places where the riding population is augmented by gophers and lizards.

3

Two-Stop Acela Expresses!!

Didn’t they try something like that already and ridership didn’t demand it?

4

I believe it was a 1 stop in PHL only. Of course none of this can happen until there is more equipment. More Acelas? probably not before 2018. This Master Improvement Plan does not address the rolling equipment or should it. The plan is only infrastructure related. Maybe the 2 stop was mentioned as a referrence for infrastructure improvements.

One item that was not mentioned is the FRA is proposing an increase in cant deficiency operations to 0.15 gravity from 0.10 G. They did not propose a further increase of superelevation and in fact said all equipment will have to have no less than 60% (?) of its flat track weight on the high side whenever equipment is at rest. That may change a lot of items. Probably the reason it was not mentioned was that FRA proposal was just issued and is not a rule yet.

5

Also marketing is much more focused than it used to be, ridership is way up from when it was tried before, and although the rideship figures are closely held Amtrak probably has a much better idea of exact ridership during peak periods. I would expect the stops to be PHL and BAL/Wilmington?

6

Yeah, the train ambles so slowly through Baltimore it might as well stop, anyway.

7

The fundamental problem with a government run railroad is politics. Instead of concentrating capital investment where there is a compelling market for the service, as a business would do, a politically motivated organization (Amtrak) has to bow to many political winds. In the case of passenger rail, this means the monies are spread around to sooth the politicians as opposed to being concentrated where there is a high probability of success.