On November 18th, Congress passed a 2012 "minibus" bill, H.R. 2112, and President Obama signed it into law the next day, which included $15 million to begin designing a new rail tunnel into Manhattan.

The minibus bill combined several annual spending bills, including the FY 2012 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development appropriations bill and a continuing resolution that funds the government through December 16th. The final version of the bill was not very rail-friendly, but it could have been a lot worse. The bill provides no new funding for high-speed and intercity passenger rail grants despite a Senate amendment that would have provided $100 million to the program, which was struck in conference. Amtrak's capital grant was set at $952 million, a small increase from FY 2011, as well as $466 million for operations, a major decrease from the FY 2011 enacted level of $562 million. Fortunately, the bill did not include language that was proposed by the House that would have prevented Amtrak from funding state-supported routes. This provision would have shuttered service on many of these popular routes.

The bill also included a $15 million grant to Amtrak to begin preliminary design and engineering on the Gateway project. This project would consist of building new tracks between Newark Penn Station and Manhattan, new four-track, high-level bridges in New Jersey, replacing of the 100+ year old Portal Bridge, digging two new tunnels under the Hudson River, and expanding Penn Station to the south of Madison Square Garden, including seven new tracks and four new platforms. Eventually, these new platforms would be connected to the existing platforms at Penn Station.

The new tunnels would provide much needed redundancy and operational flexibility for Amtrak and NJ Transit as the existing Trans-Hudson tunnels are aging and will require major structural maintenance in the coming years.

The first phase of a Northeast Corridor high-speed rail project should connect New York and Philadelphia, Bob Yaro, president of Regional Plan Association, told the audience at a forum on high-speed rail in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

High-speed rail would cut travel times to 34 minutes between New York Penn Station and a new, high-speed rail station in downtown Philadelphia at Market East. This new station would be strategically located at the center of the largest job cluster in the Greater Philadelphia region. This phase of the project would require two new dedicated tracks, new railroad cars, and new tunnels under the Hudson River west of Manhattan and under Center City Philadelphia.

You are invited to attend the upcoming PenTrans Forum, High-Speed Rail Philadelphia: The Why and the How, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM at The Down Town Club in Philadelphia, PA. The event is hosted by PenTrans and sponsored by Parsons Brinkerhoff. Bob Yaro, president of Regional Plan Association and co-chair of the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility, will present a compelling vision for high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor that was developed by the University of Pennsylvania graduate studio Mr. Yaro co-taught with Marilyn Taylor, dean of the Penn School of Design. Two other leading voices on high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor will provide thoughts and reactions: Stephen Gardner, vice president of Amtrak's new Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Investment Development business line, and Paul Levy, president & CEO of Center City District. Please join us in Philadelphia for an exciting discussion.

When:
Wednesday, Nov. 30
4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Where:
The Down Town Club
600 Chestnut Street (corner of S 6th Street) (directions)
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Register today by clicking here!

Contact:
Peter Javsicas, PenTrans
[email protected]
215-205-8157

Amtrak recently announced the creation of a new business line, or division, Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Investment Development, that will be solely devoted to all of the funding, policy, and planning decisions specifically related to improving the existing rail infrastructure and the development of a world-class, high-speed rail service on the NEC. This new business line will consolidate all of Amtrak's current high-speed rail development efforts under this new division. The new business line will be headed up by Stephen Gardner, who was previously Amtrak Vice President of Policy and Development.

This summer, Amtrak released a new strategic plan that lays out the goals of the NEC Development business line. It will be responsible for managing all of the station assets, planning, designing, and engineering new infrastructure, coordinating maintenance and construction, managing and growing the current capacity, and controlling all dispatching services for all railroad operations on the Northeast Corridor. One of the divisions priorities will be to manage Amtrak's investments in high-speed rail technology on the Corridor.

Last year, Amtrak published a vision document that broadly outlined its plans for developing a next generation high-speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor. These new, high-speed trains would be capable of moving Amtrak passengers between New York and Washington, DC in 96 minutes, and New York and Boston in 83 minutes. Both of these trips take over 3 hours by airplane and over 4 by car in good traffic. This vision plan estimated that it could take up to 30 years and cost $117 billion to implement this next generation service on the country's premier rail corridor.

Amtrak also announced that they would release an update to this plan by the end of the year, which is expected to include "new analysis of the conceptual alignment, ridership, revenue, operations and maintenance costs projections, and capital investment needs." It will also proposed a phased implementation plan that will include incremental upgrades to existing infrastructure, capacity improvements, and of course constructing new track, signal, and electrical infrastructure for the high-speed rail service.

Empire Corridor Project Map
In September, the U.S. DOT reached an agreement with the New York State DOT, Amtrak, and CSX and released the $149.3 million that was awarded to make improvements to passenger rail service on the Empire Corridor. The funds will be used to upgrade service, reduce delays, and improve reliability on this corridor, which is used by several Amtrak routes, including the Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf, Adirondack, and Ethan Allen Express.

These funds represent two ARRA grants that were awarded through the FRA's High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program:

1) Empire Corridor Capacity Improvements - $58.1 million
These funds will be used by NYSDOT for final design and construction of the three interrelated upgrades to the Empire Corridor around the Albany-Rensselaer and Schenectady stations. A fourth track will be constructed at the Albany-Rensselaer station to relieve one of the most significant bottlenecks on the corridor. Tracks and turnouts at this station will also be upgraded and realigned to improve reliability, and signal wires on the Hudson Line will be relocated. Finally, Schenectady Station will be completely replaced as part of a broader, downtown revitalization
program.

2) Empire Corridor South: Albany to Schenectady 2nd Track - $91.2 million
NYSDOT will use these funds to add a second mainline track between Albany-Rensselaer and Schenectady stations, where there is currently only one track. This 17-mile stretch, along with several interlockings, represents a significant bottleneck on the corridor. If a train approaches while another train is using the rail line in the opposing direction, it can be forced to wait for up to 26 minutes for the line to clear. NYSDOT will also upgrade existing warning signs, automatic flashers, gates and predictors at grade crossings along this segment of the corridor.

View Empire Corridor HSIPR Projects in a larger map

Both of these grants and their associated improvements will allow for increased speeds and reduced trip times, and improved reliability along the corridor. Reconstructing Schenectady Station will also improve transit and pedestrian connectivity in downtown Schenectady. Construction on all of these projects is expected to begin next summer.

"These unprecedented investments, using American made materials, will improve passenger travel while creating good-paying jobs," said U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood in a press release Friday. "President Obama's bold vision for passenger rail will change transportation in New York and the United States, helping relieve congestion on our roadways and reducing our dependence on foreign oil."

Images: NYS DOT

On Tuesday, the U.S. DOT released a $13.3 million High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program grant to the Delaware DOT. The funds will be used to add a third track just south of the Wilmington, DE station along a 1.5 mile segment of the Northeast Corridor. This will effectively eliminate a major chokepoint, will result in increased speeds, and lead to improved reliability and capacity of Amtrak's intercity and SEPTA's commuter rail services on the corridor. Freight railroads operating on the NEC will also benefit from greater dispatching flexibility. This project also includes improvements to the Newark, DE station.

In a statement released on Tuesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, "The Obama Administration's historic investment in the Northeast Corridor will modernize its aging railways, dramatically improve its capacity for high-speed rail and create thousands of good-paying jobs by using materials made in the USA."

While the Federal Railroad Adminisitration is chipping in $13.3 million, the Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration are also contributing a combined $38.4 million to this project.

View Delaware NEC Project in a larger map

Image: Live Railroad Radio Communications