Northeast
The Northeast is a powerhouse of density and economic output, producing 20 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product with 18 percent of the population and only two percent of the nation's land area. Over the next generation, the Northeast will add 1 million new residents This population growth will demand infrastructure investments and economic growth to accommodate these new residents while preserving quality of life. Location: The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic seaboard - From Northern Virginia to Southern Maine, bounded by the Appalachian Mountains to the west by the Appalachian Mountains to the west.
Principal Cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C.
Population 2000: 49,563,296
Percent of U.S. Population: 18%
Population 2025: 58,124,740
Projected Growth: 18%
2005 GDP: $2,591,075,000,000
Percent of US GDP: 21%
Recent Entries
Last month, eleven northeastern states and Amtrak submitted a planning proposal to the Federal Railroad Administration. The proposal seeks federal funding for an $18.8 million four-phased planning study.
The study will explore investments needed to meet travel demand in the Northeast Corridor, including both incremental improvements and investments in dedicated tracks for true high-speed service. This proposal, the result of collaboration among 11 states and Amtrak to plan for the future of the nation's most congested intercity and commuter rail corridor, represents an historic collaboration and a necessary step to bring the Northeast's rail infrastructure into the 21st century.
The proposal strikes a needed balance between short term necessity and ambitious long term planning, and is worthy of support by anyone who cares about rail service in the Northeast. A decision by the FRA about whether to fund this three-year planning process is expect by the middle of July.
The complete proposal can be found here: www.njtransit.com/highspeedNEC
Amtrak and the Northeastern states are about to embark on a new round of ambitious planning for upgraded rail service in the corridor. This PowerPoint presentation prepared by Regional Plan Association provides context for this process with a brief history of planning efforts on the corridor over the past four decades and a snapshot of where the corridor is today.
It can be downloaded and used a resource by Business Alliance members or other interested parties.
The report was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 9.
By Yoav Hagler. Reprinted from RPA's Spotlight on the Region.
My train pulled out of a shabby, non- descript rail terminal operating
at capacity in a major world city. This particular train was designed
for speeds of up to 140 miles per hour but regularly operates at only
125 mph. An hour and twenty minutes later, I arrived at my destination, a
city of a couple of million people about 100 miles away. The railroad
right-of-way recently underwent a major upgrade, including
electrification and a new signaling system.
Sound familiar? Have you traveled between London and Birmingham on a
Virgin Pendolino train recently too? Surprised I wasn't describing my
recent trip to Philadelphia out of Penn station? There are great
similarities. England is far away from the Northeast and its rail
challenges, but the experience and choices made across the water have
lessons for us.
While the bill's $2.5 billion is less than the $4 billion for high-speed rail approved by the House in an earlier version of the spending bill this year, it exceeds the President's request for high-speed rail in his draft budget ($5 billion over 5 years). With this appropriation Congress has indicated their strong support for the nation's high-speed rail program.
The bill also included a small ray of hope for the Northeast Corridor, which has been excluded from applying for significant grants in the FRA's high-speed rail program because it lacks an up-to-date corridor-wide Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The spending bill includes $50 million for planning grants to states (with an 80/20 federal-state split). That $50 million is being eyed by states in the Northeast to fund their work on the Programmatic EIS in cooperation with the FRA and Amtrak in order to hasten the corridor's eligibility for funding in the FRA's High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program.
America 2050 Director Petra Todorovich discusses how the New York region may fare in a jobs bill being considered by President Obama and Congress and the importance of fully funding the New York MTA's five-year capital plan.
by Fritz Ohrenschall, Research Associate, Northeast-Midwest Institute
The Administration's "Stimulus Bill" - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - provides $8 billion for high speed rail. Unfortunately, the Northeast Rail Corridor faces major hurdles in receiving any of this money because the Federal Railroad Administration has yet to document, as required by law, the environmental impacts of revamping the corridor.
Recovery Act rail funding is allocated in two tracks. Track 1 funds individual projects on a rail line. Track 2 funds corridor-wide projects that will reduce trip times on that line. Construction of corridor-wide enhancement on the Northeast Corridor would fall under Track 2 and will require that the Federal Railroad Administration prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement documenting the effects of such enhancements in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. This document must be very comprehensive and it remains to be seen whether it can be completed before the statutory deadline for Recovery Act monies to be spent.
Recognizing that Recovery Act funding is critical to the nation's busiest rail corridor, the states along the corridor, as well as the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility have requested that FRA expedite the impact statement and have volunteered to help with it. Currently it is unclear whether the FRA can meet this challenge.
Download "Challenges to Northeast Corridor ARRA Funding."







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