WASHINGTON — Twenty-four Democratic members of the House of Representatives have called for inclusion of the North Atlantic Rail Corp., a $105 billion plan for widespread rail improvements in the northeast, in the surface transportation bill introduced last week by House Democrats. North Atlantic Rail would create a new high-speed replacement for much of the Northeast Corridor between New York and Boston, as well as connecting higher-speed intercity service and regional rail improvements.
The Providence Journal reports the seven-state plan includes $23.4 billion in “early action” projects, a group of 10 local commuter and regional passenger upgrades or start-ups that could help build political support — which could be important in light of a history of local opposition to large infrastructure projects.
The high speed rail portion of the plan has a goal of 100-minute service between New York and Boston (the current fastest time between the two offered by Amtrak’s Acela is 3 hours, 40 minutes. It envisions a route crossing under Long Island Sound between Port Jefferson, N.Y., to Milford, Conn., and would join the existing NEC at Providence, R.I. The North Atlantic Rail website outlines more details.
In their letter to Rep. Peter DeFazio, the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the 24 legislators supporting the plan write that North Atlantic Rail would coordinate its activities with Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the many other state and regional agencies involved in rail operations in the region, and would hand the completed projects over to those agencies upon completion, then cease operation. “This is the moment,” they write, “so make investments that will result in transformative change for generations to come.”
The transportation bill introduced Friday by DeFazio and his committee included $109 billion for transit and $95 billion for rail, including high speed projects [see “House Democrats support transportation bill …,” Trains News Wire, June 7, 2021].
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