NEC Capital Projects

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Anyone know the status of two capital projects Amtrak was supposedly working on a few years ago in the NEC: the upgrade of a stretch of track in New Jersey to, what, 165 mph, and the expansion of the passenger councourse at Washington Union Station? I find nothing about either on Amtrak's website. I do see something from last year about the project to reconstruct Track 22 at WUS but I know that at least a couple of years ago they announced plans to work on the concourse. I see they have several other small capital projects underway in the NEC.
 
AFAIK the 165mph work between County and Ham, or whatever remains of it after the repeated down scaling, is pretty much done. The Acela 21s were testing there for operation at 160mph. I think they have dropped the idea of trying to certify the Acela Is for 160 mph.

The one big capital project that is currently under execution strictly speaking is not an Amtrak project, but is an NJT Project. That is the Portal North Bridge which is fully funded and under construction.

The other big capital project is mostly an LIRR project with two significant Amtrak components, that has going on for ever, and will probably complete (at least the Amtrak portion) next year. The is the Harold Interlocking realignment with the two Amtrak bypass duck-unders adjacent to Sunnyside Yard, which will potentially reduce running time to Boston by about 5-7 mins due to removal of conflicts between Amtrak and LIRR main line moves.

I have not heard anything about what is going on with the head house reconfiguration at Washington Union Station of late.
 
I have not heard anything about what is going on with the head house reconfiguration at Washington Union Station of late.
This is from last December (apologies if it's behind a paywall.)

Union Station redevelopment plan too focused on cars, critics say - The Washington Post

I think they're going back to the drawing board to reduce the focus on automobile access. Not sure when the revised plans are sert to come out.

Other important NEC capital projects:

Susquehanna River Bridge (Havre De Grace, MD)
Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel

I would hope money to get these projects moving will find its way into the proposed infrastructure bill. In particular, after spending almost 20 years creeping through the B&P Tunnel twice every day, I fervently hope someone fixes it before it collapses on a train or gets flooded out. I mean, this tunnel was built in the 1870s for goodness sake.
 
And then there is the giant Whale of an Elephant in the room - Gateway Tunnels and NYPS South. The former is allegedly going to get funded soon with an FFGA expected soon after Congress acts on it, though the funding will be over possibly 8 or so years.

Theoretically Portal South also formed part of the conceptual package, but nothing has happened so far about funding that or the additional two tracks from the west bank of Hackensack River to Hudson interlocking including the necessary realignment of Swift interlocking. And then there is the issue of restoring the fourth track through Harrison PATH station in CP Dock. That should be a doozy of a challenge.
 
AFAIK the 165mph work between County and Ham, or whatever remains of it after the repeated down scaling, is pretty much done. The Acela 21s were testing there for operation at 160mph. I think they have dropped the idea of trying to certify the Acela Is for 160 mph.

The one big capital project that is currently under execution strictly speaking is not an Amtrak project, but is an NJT Project. That is the Portal North Bridge which is fully funded and under construction.

The other big capital project is mostly an LIRR project with two significant Amtrak components, that has going on for ever, and will probably complete (at least the Amtrak portion) next year. The is the Harold Interlocking realignment with the two Amtrak bypass duck-unders adjacent to Sunnyside Yard, which will potentially reduce running time to Boston by about 5-7 mins due to removal of conflicts between Amtrak and LIRR main line moves.

I have not heard anything about what is going on with the head house reconfiguration at Washington Union Station of late.

The LIRR has been doing work for awhile with signal outages on the City Terminal Branch due to work at Harold Interlocking during the weekends. The Amtrak bypass is definitely needed and will help speed up trains going north.
 
This is from last December (apologies if it's behind a paywall.)

Union Station redevelopment plan too focused on cars, critics say - The Washington Post

I think they're going back to the drawing board to reduce the focus on automobile access. Not sure when the revised plans are sert to come out.

Other important NEC capital projects:

Susquehanna River Bridge (Havre De Grace, MD)
Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel

I would hope money to get these projects moving will find its way into the proposed infrastructure bill. In particular, after spending almost 20 years creeping through the B&P Tunnel twice every day, I fervently hope someone fixes it before it collapses on a train or gets flooded out. I mean, this tunnel was built in the 1870s for goodness sake.

Thank you. This article refers to the long term expansion of WUS. I did a little more digging and unearthed this story, from two years ago, also from the Washington Post, about doubling the capacity of the "Claytor Concourse." I'm curious if work ever began on this.
 
Amtrak has launched the procurement process for replacing the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnels - another significant step in moving the various large capital projects on the NEC forward.

https://www.railwayage.com/mw/amtrak-launches-procurement-phase-for-bp-tunnel-replacement-program/
One big item is providing ventilation for the 2 bores. Not on the following is the requirement that each train in a tunnel bore has to have a separate ventilation system as any train passes thru. So with the plan to have more than one train in a bore at least 3 ventilation shafts are needed. Here is copy of the Record of decision pertaining to that requirememt.

"" 4. Emergency Egress The Selected Alternative must be designed and constructed in compliance with all current standards relative to Fire Life and Safety, which includes compliance with the NFPA 130. Emergency access/egress for pedestrians must be accomplished via emergency exits no farther than 2,500 feet apart or cross passages between tunnels every 800 feet or less, or in some situations, a combination of both. Under the Selected Alternative, three locations will provide for emergency egress to the surface, working with cross passages in the tunnels. Emergency egress to ground level will be provided at the South Ventilation Facility, at the Intermediate Ventilation Facility, and at the North Ventilation Facility. Additionally, an egress tunnel located parallel to the main tunnel bores will provide an egress passage from an egress cavern located between the Intermediate Ventilation Facility and the north portal. This egress tunnel will connect to the egress corridor incorporated into the Intermediate Ventilation Facility air plenum tunnel, as shown in Figure 8. """
For a link for the full ROI here it is below. Note the NFPA also applies to the Hudson river new bores,

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...l/BPT_Record-of-Decision_March2017_Signed.pdf
Amtrak has to limit the 1sr street tunnel to one train in each bore of 1st street bores. To increase number of trains to 2 in the tunnel at the same time requires a mid point ventilation addition. So 2 trains at a time can be going in the same directions can be in a tunnel bore.. d on capitol lawn.
 
What are potential funding sources for this tunnel? And how would it impact Gateway funding?
Both can get funded out of IIJA and then some. They should not impact each others funding directly for that reason. Of course one can never say about how local politics will play out in terms of getting the requisite matching funds from local sources.
 
Amtraks contunied move to not increase clearances is strange. it doesn't need to go to H but even F would be a good thing.
Remember final plann is to add two more bores with one full freight clearances. If old tunnel borewill be for freight what changes?, Will it stay Amtrak with all maintenance problems? Remove two tracks and restore track in middle of bore? Remave CAT?
 
Amtraks contunied move to not increase clearances is strange. it doesn't need to go to H but even F would be a good thing.
Remember final plann is to add two more bores with one full freight clearances. If old tunnel borewill be for freight what changes?, Will it stay Amtrak with all maintenance problems? Remove two tracks and restore track in middle of bore? Remave CAT?
As I have done before I would strongly recommend that people actually read the FEIS before complaining about stuff, proposing solutions and asking questions. Many of these discussions and arguments will go away since specific decisions about matters being raised can be found in the FEIS. In particular I would draw everyone's attention to Chapter three of the Frederick Douglas Tunnel FEIS.

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...lic/documents/bptunnel/BPT-FEIS-Chapter-3.pdf
In particular, the old tunnels will be abandoned. There will be four new single track bores with Plate H clearance along the so called Great Circle alignment.
 
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I believe planning has shifted from 4 down to 2 new bores as seen in Amtrak's FAQ at this site:

B&P Tunnel Replacement

With freight continuing to use the old/existing tunnel.

Ah! Didn’t notice that. Thanks. The project has been considerably downsized and made less useful like everything to do with passenger rail is in this country. 🙁

Sorry for misleading people. Just for a moment I had dropped my cynicism and that clearly was a mistake. Sorry again. Won’t happen again.
 
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