New Amtrak NEC High Speed Line (NY-WAS)

It seems Amtrak and Congress wants the privat sector to build a new NEC line exclusive for High Speed trains between NY and D.C.

Congressional transportation leaders plan to announce today the federal government is seeking contractors to build a new $30 billion to $40 billion high speed rail line between Washington and New York that would be used exclusively by passenger trains.

The new rail line would carry passengers between Washington and New York in no more than two hours, compared with nearly three hours now on Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains. Slower Amtrak trains can take as long as four hours for the trip

However, he said engineers face significant obstacles, such as figuring out where to put the rail line when urban development and natural barriers lie in its path. He mentioned downtown tunnels in Baltimore that are more than a century old and the Hudson River around New York City's Manhattan Island.

The rest of the Article is Here

Another pipe dream which can be studied to death. NO MONEY available for this project!

BobLI wrote:Another pipe dream which can be studied to death. NO MONEY available for this project!

I think the Washington Times kinda missed the point on this one (as they often do). The idea here is that this would be a privately funded, privately run railroad. Here, this article is much shorter but contains much more factual information: http://www.rnntv.com/Global/story.asp?S ... =menu566_2

In essence, the government is spending $30 million to "solicit proposals" from the private sector to build and operate a high speed line in the Northeast.

That said, it is a stupid idea. What private corporation is going to bid on the rights to spend $40 billion on infrastructure, knowing that they'll never be able to turn a profit?

At least in Japan, the government maintains the infrastructure and private railways run the trains.

This is basically $30 million of the government's money down the toilet. Unless it is some sort of ploy to eventually get Amtrak more money by making it obvious that the private sector has no interest in running trains even on the supposedly-lucrative NEC. In which case this is actually the perfect time to be soliciting bids.

This was part of the most recent authorization bill that was passed. It's mostly (IMHO) grandstanding.

The fact is, there's just too much urban development in that area to easily build an entirely new line. If Congress is serious, they should spend the money to fix up the current line. Real Estate costs alone to acquire some of the necessary land will only be a few billion. (though perhaps they can wait a year and the price will drop in half.)

What they need to do is rebuild the catenary and upgrade the powerstations and the rails. At the same time get all freight off the NEC. A new ROW is out of the question, to much in the way.

The Washington Times is a totally clueless newspaper (polar opposite of the WaPo). Its imposible to find the right-of-way to build an economically feasible new NEC. They would either have to drag thousands of people out of their homes or build it underground. Even then the price tag would be jaw-dropping. What they should do is fix the current one by replacing caternary, tunnels, and bridges, and straightening curves. The only place in the country where a new high speed route makes sense is California.

In Europe high speed lines are often built alongside motorways. There may well be land either alongside or over roads that would be useful. That would reduce the cost.

This is Rep John Mica's, (R-FL) pound of flesh for his supprt of the Amtrak authorization bill. He really does seem to believe that there are private companies out there that are willing to gamble on this project. There is no assumption that it will make a profit-its more an excercise to see how much public support would be required to entice the private sector into the process. I would say a lot!

george matthews wrote:In Europe high speed lines are often built alongside motorways. There may well be land either alongside or over roads that would be useful. That would reduce the cost.

Not a whole lot. I-95 for example, the most obvious route permits higher grades and sharper curves than are practical for a HSR.

40 billion, while a huge figure, sounds awfully low for a new ROW between NYC and WAS. Just the real estate costs alone would eat up a huge portion of that. Consider that a single tunnel between NYC and NJ is going to cost 7+ billion dollars. I'd say that number is over 100 billion. No private enterprise could make money on that, ever, and neither should we expect them to.

alewifebp wrote:40 billion, while a huge figure, sounds awfully low for a new ROW between NYC and WAS. Just the real estate costs alone would eat up a huge portion of that. Consider that a single tunnel between NYC and NJ is going to cost 7+ billion dollars. I'd say that number is over 100 billion. No private enterprise could make money on that, ever, and neither should we expect them to.

Basically, that would mean every man, woman, and child in the USA would be handed a bill for over $300 each to build a rail line that very few of them would use or even have the opportunity to use. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Not a whole lot. I-95 for example, the most obvious route permits higher grades and sharper curves than are practical for a HSR.

As for grades, look in the High Speed Rail forum for pictures of what grades look like in Germany. The point I was making is that new routes don't necessarily need destruction of houses (but the value of these suburban areas is a bit dubious at present, especially when oil prices rise again).

Of all the corridor routes in this country, New York-Washington is probably least in need of this fantasy boondoggle. The existing line already sees 100+ mph speeds over much of its length, and as others have noted, replacing the PRR catenary combined with a few local improvements could result in 3 hour trip times. Spending billions to go faster than that is absurd when so much of the rest of the country's passenger rail infrastructure is a mess. Spend the money on other corridors that need it more.

I wonder what well-connected consultants will pocket that $30 million of tax money.

Unreal. Spend $40B (like it could POSSIBLY come in THAT cheap) to duplicate what we already have instead of spreading the money around and making HS corridors all over the place.

Why not spend this money on something like a HS line between New York and Chicago? With the ability to run DC and Bost trains right on to the line and continue on to Chi?