Like clockwork, NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor line was hit with delays due to problems with the overhead power lines resulting in a disabled train blocking two tracks. Again.
This is something like the third or fourth time in the past two weeks, including this past Friday afternoon as people were heading out of Manhattan for the Memorial Day weekend.
NJ Transit shares those tracks with Amtrak, and NJ Transit has already had to adjust its schedules across the board to accommodate 26 miles of concrete tie replacements because those ties were defective. Put another way, that effectively eliminate 25% of track capacity for that stretch. It also means that if there are problems with the remaining tracks, the delays get further magnified.
The Northeast Corridor is the most heavily traveled rail link in the US, and Amtrak and NJ Transit have done a poor job maintaining it. Service is nowhere near what it could or should be. Consider that Acela service was supposed to speed trains between New York City and Washington DC significantly faster than Metroliner service, and yet it hasn't lived up to its goals, because of poor implementation, engineering errors, and because significant mileage of track and the overhead wires cannot handle the higher speeds.
So, it comes without a surprise that some are calling for a new rail link initiative to create a bullet train between Washington and Boston.
I'm a strong proponent of mass transit, but I have to wonder how many more billions will be thrown at Amtrak and wasted because they can't get the job done right the first time. It is well past time to consider privatizing the Northeast Corridor and enabling private enterprise to run rail lines between New York and DC. They certainly couldn't do any worse than Amtrak.
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