The president of the United States, Joe Biden, earned the nickname Amtrak Joe for the almost daily trips he made between Wilmington (Delaware) and Washington when he was a senator. Amtrak is the state intercity passenger train network, the American Renfe. The president has chosen Wilmington, where the train station is named after him, to announce this Monday a multimillion-dollar investment to modernize the railroad corridor in the northeastern United States, the busiest in the country. It will be $16.4 billion in 25 projects in Amtrak’s northeast corridor.
The infrastructure law approved in 2021 in Congress with support from both parties provides for total railway investments of $66 billion, the largest since Amtrak was created in 1971. One year before the elections, the mobilization of public investments is a trump card that the president plays to boost the economy and regain popularity in the face of a re-election that is expected to be very close.
The investments announced this Monday will rebuild tunnels and bridges that are more than 100 years old; They will improve roads, electrical systems, signals, stations and other infrastructure; and will advance future projects to significantly improve travel times by increasing speeds and reducing delays, according to the White House.
Combined with Amtrak’s nearly $9 billion fleet replacement program, which will replace more than 1,000 locomotives and railcars with state-of-the-art American-made equipment, “these investments will ensure train service is more comfortable and environmentally friendly than driving or flying,” according to the Biden Administration. The funding will also help create more than 100,000 construction jobs.
The northeast corridor runs from Boston to Washington and carries about 800,000 travelers daily in a region that represents 20% of the US gross domestic product. The trains carry five times more passengers than all flights between Washington and New York. Despite this, many of its infrastructures are neglected, as the corridor has not been the subject of large investments for generations. Many of the existing bridges and tunnels were built in the early 20th century, with some investments dating back to the 1830s.
Of the new funds announced by Biden, the largest amount, $4.7 billion, is allocated to the Frederick Douglass (MD) Tunnel, which will replace the 150-year-old Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, whose tight curvature and steep slope They force trains to reduce speed to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h). It is the largest bottleneck on the route between Washington and New Jersey, causing delays on more than 10% of trains daily. The new tunnel will allow speeds of 110 miles per hour (177 kilometers per hour). Biden already visited the tunnel in January to announce the signing of a project initiation agreement and construction, which is now receiving this injection of funds, has been underway since March.
Another 3.8 billion will be used to rehabilitate and expand the Hudson River tunnel between New York and New Jersey, which is more than 100 years old, serves 200,000 passengers daily and was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Combined with other investments, the Biden Administration’s total commitment to the tunnel project will reach a record $11 billion. The Hudson Tunnel project is an essential component of the Gateway Program, a broad rail investment program that will improve commuter and intercity services. According to the White House, resolving this critical choke point is critical to the Northeast regional economy.
The package announced by Biden includes another $2.1 billion to replace the 100-year-old railroad bridge over the Susquehanna River (in Maryland) with two new two-track spans that will increase speeds from 90 to 125 miles per hour and improve trip reliability and duration. Approximately 19,000 passengers travel over the existing bridge every weekday, which is also used for freight traffic. Additionally, the existing movable bridge will be replaced with high-level fixed bridges, which will also improve navigation for boats on the Susquehanna River.
$1.6 billion is also earmarked to repair and rehabilitate 19 miles of the Amtrak-owned Hell Gate Line, including tracks, bridges and signals. The project will introduce Metro-North service to Penn Station, increase Amtrak service and reduce local transportation travel time from the Bronx to Manhattan. There is another $827 million to replace a 116-year-old bridge over the Connecticut River in the state of the same name with a new moving bridge, increasing speed from 45 to 70 miles per hour. Its construction will begin in 2024.
No high speed
Despite the busy nature of the northeast corridor, it does not have a high-speed line nor is it planned. The Acela trains, the fastest of those that connect Washington and New York, take a minimum of 2 hours and 45 minutes, including intermediate stops, to travel a distance of about 364 kilometers and only in a small section do they manage to reach speeds of 150 miles (240 kilometers) per hour. The new projects awarded will improve the duration of trips not only because of the sections in which speed increases, but also because they will reduce delays associated with the constant maintenance and repair of old infrastructure.
The package announced by Biden does include a planning study to examine opportunities to increase speed and reduce travel time between Washington and New York. Another will study future infrastructure options to improve speed, endurance, performance and capacity for faster trains traveling through Connecticut and Rhode Island.
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