The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has outlined proposals for upgrading the Northeast Corridor rail service with an emphasis on speeding up train travel.
The FRA”™s Record of Decision (ROD), which concludes the agency’s Tier 1 environmental review process, sets the year 2040 as the goal for its work. The FRA calls for increasing the number of regional commuter trains and improving travel times between Boston and New York City by 45 minutes and between New York and Washington, D.C., by 35 minutes. The FRA stated that “new segments should be designated for 220 mph operations, unless there are unique or exceptional constraints that justify limiting the highest practical speed.”
The FRA”™s plan included the proposed addition of more than 200 miles of “expanded track capacity” connecting Washington and New Haven, as well as connecting Providence, Rhode Island, with Boston. However, the FRA backed away from the proposed construction of new high-speed tracks connecting New Haven and Providence, and instead called for a new study to “identify on- and off-corridor infrastructure to address the capacity constraints, speed restrictions and flooding vulnerability.”
FRA Deputy Administrator Heath Hall said the fiscal realities of government spending will ultimately decide which proposals will move forward. “Given the high cost projections of the recommendations in the NEC ROD and the reality of state budgets, the completion of the Tier 1 study will enable states to better prioritize which projects to pursue,” Hall said.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy commended the FRA”™s proposals and offered gratitude for the agency”™s focus on improving the existing infrastructure. “They have responded directly to requests made by the state of Connecticut to enable significant and necessary investments to address an estimated $38 billion backlog in state-of-good-repair assets, and we thank them for their consideration of our concerns,” he said.
