NEC Commission Improvement Plan

[MisterUptempo]

The Northeast Corridor Commission, comprised of USDOT, Amtrak, MTA, MBTA, CTRail, SEPTA, MARC, VRE, and other governmental agencies, has released its CONNECT NEC 2035 plan, which calls for $117 Billion for improvements and SOGR on the NEC-

Northeast Corridor Commission Announces CONNECT NEC 2035

Washington, DC (July 14, 2021)—The Northeast Corridor Commission released CONNECT NEC 2035 (C35) today—a 15-year plan representing the most ambitious reinvestment program in the NEC’s history and a new way of planning: a multi-agency, multi-year, shared action plan guided by a long-term vision. The state governments of the Northeast, the federal government, eight commuter rail agencies, and Amtrak worked together through the NEC Commission to develop a detailed and efficient sequencing of infrastructure investments covering 150 projects and capital renewal efforts along the corridor.

C35 is the first phase of the long-term vision for the corridor established in the Federal Railroad Administration’s 2017 NEC FUTURE plan, making significant improvements to NEC rail service for both existing and new riders, on both commuter rail systems and Amtrak. The $117 billion C35 plan would result in a renewed NEC with the following benefits for a thriving Northeast region:

•Improve mobility and connections

o Travel time savings valued at nearly $140 million annually for intercity and commuter rail passengers corridor-wide

o 26-minute faster trips for Acela riders traveling from DC to NYC & 28-minute faster trips from NYC to Boston

o 25-minute faster trips for express commuters traveling from New Haven to NYC

o Daily Amtrak NEC service increases of 33% and doubled service for several commuter railroads

o New one-seat ride services in NJ, NY, and CT into Penn Station New York

The executive summary of the proposal can be found here.

The full report can be found here.

 

[Tlcooper44]

Glad Congress (and the public) now has an idea of exactly where money will be spent.

A 6 hour trip to DC and a 3 hour trip to NYC from Boston would be nice.

Glad this includes the South Station expansion project. So many people are against it, and prefer the N-S connect without realizing that will never happen (nor should it at this point).

Expanding South Station is inevitable. The new Acelas are quite a bit longer than the current ones, and they just shortened the tracks and platforms by about 60 feet at SS.

Moreover, there will be 5 more train sets. Adding 12 additional tracks to south station would be such a blessing, and allow for departures every half hour.

 

[neroden]

The ADA projects list on the Harrisburg line feels like Amtrak's apology to the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation for failing to do what they should have done 20 years ago according to law. Good, let's get those done. Of the stations where people in wheelchairs cannot board the train, the following are within this NEC-plus-branches territory:

Westerly RI (under construction)
Newark DE (sort of under construction)
Ardmore PA (under construction)
Coatesville PA
Downingtown PA
Parkesburg PA
North Philadelphia PA

And the following are not:
Ashland VA (looks fixed, but not updated on website)
Crawfordsville IN (same)
Elko NV (just needs lifts)
Latrobe PA
Thurmond WV
Harpers Ferry WV
Deming NM (no platform)

So you can see a disproportionate number of the inaccessible stations are part of the NEC-plus-branches and specifically on the Harrisburg line (with another on the route to Pittsburgh).

 

[jis]

https://www.archpaper.com/2023/11/amtrak-plan-upgrade-northeast-corridor-double-trains/

 

[Jack Kittle]

Here's a link to details about the plan- CONNECT NEC 2037 | Northeast Corridor Commission