After rethinking where to place bookend stations for high-speed rail on either side of Connecticut ”“ including in Westchester County, N.Y. ”“ Amtrak is sticking to its vision of a line running through the interior of Connecticut rather than along the coast where much of the state”™s population is located.
Amtrak last week released an update to its vision for the Northeast corridor (NEC) two years after releasing a master plan for the corridor. Since then, Amtrak has consolidated its financing plans both for its ongoing operations and the high-speed rail line it envisions running from Boston through inland Connecticut to New York City and points south.
Amtrak does not envision a high-speed rail line between New York City and Boston before 2040, but said improved ridership on the Northeast corridor could help accelerate intermediate steps to improve existing service. Amtrak says a new high-speed rail line between New York City and Washington, D.C. is feasible by 2030, promising “dramatically increased frequencies and service two-thirds faster than present levels,” in Amtrak”™s words.
Even as it does so, Connecticut is readying a high-speed commuter rail line from New Haven to Hartford and Springfield, Mass., with planners foreseeing the line eventually stretching into Vermont. Amtrak said that line will have an important impact on the overall Northeast corridor.
Amtrak”™s existing Acela runs at an average speed of 84 mph between Boston and Washington, D.C. It is aiming for average speeds in excess of 135 mph, and topping out at 220 mph on some stretches. Amtrak thinks the new line can result in 94-minute trips between New York City and both Boston and Washington.
As intermediate steps, in the next several years Amtrak hopes to buy another 40 Acela cars to increase capacity, followed by entire Acela train sets to increase frequency of service. Those plans also include a new rail bridge over the Connecticut River and enlarging tunnels connecting New York and New Jersey.
“The NEC region is America”™s economic powerhouse and is facing a severe crisis with an aging and congested multimodal transportation network that routinely operates at or near capacity in key segments,” Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman said in a statement. “With an expected 30 percent population increase by 2050, we must move beyond mere preservation and rehabilitation of the current system to a new vision for expanded transportation capacity and growth.”
Amtrak had initially planned for a high-speed rail stop at Westchester County Airport, but now said those plans are up in the air as it considers other sites in the vicinity of White Plains, N.Y. And Amtrak is canceling plans for a stop on the east side of Manhattan, deeming one station in the borough sufficient.
And after initially pinpointing Woonsocket, R.I., as a station locale, Amtrak now is leaning toward Providence as Rhode Island”™s station, citing its status as a major population and business center, as well as Providence”™s proximity to existing infrastructure along the Northeast corridor.
The same argument apparently will not hold sway for Fairfield County and the rest of coastal Connecticut, despite the larger numbers of people and a few major sites such as Yale University and the casinos that could deliver major traffic on high-speed rail.
Amtrak has said the existing route along Connecticut”™s coast would be too expensive to install high-speed rail, without specifying how big a differential it would be. Including track in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, Amtrak anticipates a $58 billion price tag on a high-speed rail line between New York City and Boston.
Some of that money would be spent on tunneling under a portion of Providence to accommodate track leading to a new station platform for high-speed trains. Between Providence and Westwood, Mass., Amtrak sketched a plan for a pair of high-speed tracks flanked by tracks for standard, local service trains.
