Amtrak's Testing of 165mph Train Wont Bring Immediate Changes

Amtrak needs to increase the speed of its trains on the Northeast Corridor. Doing so would make its Acela service even more preferable for those commuting between Washington DC, New York, and Boston.

Currently, the top speeds in most areas is no more than 125 mph in regular service.

Amtrak is testing a segment in New Jersey between New Brunswick and Trenton at 165 mph over the next several nights. Amtrak's using this as an opportunity to run tests on equipment.

Two test locations — from Perryville, Md., to Wilmington, Del., and from Trenton to New Brunswick, N.J. — currently have a speed limit of 135 mph. The two others — in Rhode Island from Westerly to Cranston and in Massachusetts from South Attleboro to Readville — have 150 mph limits.

The same areas, totaling just over 100 miles, were used for tests reaching 165 mph in the 1990s before the introduction of high-speed Acela service, Cole said. Federal regulations required another round of testing, he said, to further raise the top speed limit.

Cole said the tests, with cars equipped with instruments to collect a variety of data, will not affect normal rail operations because they are scheduled at a time of minimal rail service.

In New Jersey, track, electric power, signals and other systems are to be upgraded over the next several years to improve reliability and to permit regular train operations at faster speeds, as part of a $450 million project funded by the federal high-speed rail program.

There are several factors holding back true high speed rail and they are mostly related to an archaic infrastructure.

For starters, the electrical systems need to be upgraded to a constant tension system. That includes the catenary system through New Jersey and that's part of the $450 million in upgrades to come over the next few years. The other part is dealing with a string of bottlenecks that reduce the number of tracks, including at the Portal Bridge and Hudson River tunnels. Those two projects mean that speeds from Newark into Manhattan can be no more than 70 mph.

Constructing a new Portal Bridge has been in the works for years, but its fate has been tied to the Gateway/ARC plan. Even if Gateway is still years away from being funded, the Portal Bridge should move ahead and that would pay immediate dividends in increasing speeds from Secaucus through to Newark. It would provide a more reliable link and that's in everyone's best interests.

But the thing to remember is that these tests wont pay immediate dividends and trains wont begin running at these speeds in revenue service for another few years, which is a tremendous shame since even doing so for these short segments could cut 7 minutes off service between New York and Washington (30 mile segment increase to 165 mph. As the high speed expands to other sections, the speeds could likewise result in cutting significant time off the trip.

Moreover, 165 mph isn't where Amtrak needs to be setting its sights. Speeds over 200mph should be. Doing so would revolutionize travel along the NEC and provide highly competitive travel as compared with flying in all too crowded skies and overburdened airports that are struggling to maintain their current flight schedules.

Failing to Spend on Infrastructure Main Driver of NJ Transit Rail Delays

This is something I've been harping on for years. NJ Transit has failed to maintain its infrastructure, but Amtrak's deficiencies are driving the delays on those NJ Transit trains that use the Northeast Corridor. That includes the functionally obsolete Portal Bridge between Newark and Secaucus. 75 events involving the Portal Bridge led to delays across NJ Transit. Signal problems are another major source of delays. And the NJ Transit reporting of delays is itself skewed. It considers a train to be on time if it arrives up to 6 minutes late. When NJ Transit trains are supposed to be timed with connecting trains or PATH, the six minute difference can lead to more commuter misery with additional delays. Clearly, everyone recognizes the need to replace the Portal Bridge, but apparently no one has decided to start work on the project or set aside the funds to make it happen. It's been tied into a larger Northeast Corridor plan to upgrade rail speed and the construction of the Gateway Tunnel. That isn't necessary. The bridge can be built well ahead of any decisions on Gateway. Relieving that bottleneck will improve efficiencies and improve reliability. Another reason for the problems is that spending on infrastructure and repairs hasn't kept up with inflation, so the money isn't going far enough. In the end, commuters don't care who owns the lines or is responsible for the repairs; they want to see them done.

Amtrak's $151 Billion Northeast Corridor Wishlist, and California's HSR Boondoggle

Let the numbers sink in.

$151 billion.

220 mph high speed rail between Washington DC and Boston, enabling 37 minute trips between Philadelphia and New York City, and 94 minute trips between Boston and New York or New York and Washington DC.

That was the promise once envisioned for the Northeast Corridor (NEC) when Amtrak settled for the Acela service that ended up being less than half that speed. Those kinds of numbers would get me out of my car and head down to DC or Baltimore to catch ballgames on the weekend and would make business travel even more convenient for those all along the NEC.

Now, Amtrak is resurrecting the true high speed rail vision for the Northeast Corridor. It has the potential to be a game changer considering that those trips would be a fraction of the time spent flying between those destinations (not counting the travel time from the airport to the city center or the security checks).

Current travel times from New York to Philadelphia on Amtrak's sleek Acela trains are 1 hour, 15 minutes. Travel between New York and Washington currently takes 2 hours, 45 minutes and New York to Boston takes 3 hours, 41 minutes, according to Amtrak's website.

"The NEC (Northeast Corridor) region is America's economic powerhouse and is facing a severe crisis with an aging and congested multi-model transportation network that routinely operates at or near capacity in key segments," Amtrak's President Joe Boardman said in a statement.

The traditionally cash-starved railroad is funded by Congress, where Republicans have been reluctant to finance prior plans to develop high-speed rail in the United States.

Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm acknowledged a lack of federal support but said there were other funding options.

"You have to have a plan and if you have a plan, the money will follow," Kulm said.

Among the sources was $450 million in funding turned down by the state of Florida for a high-speed rail proposal there that will instead be used for rail improvements in New Jersey.

Starting sometime in the 2020s, the hyper speedy "NextGen" trains will replace Acela trains, which were first introduced in 2000, Kulm said.

The newest Amtrak improvement plan also calls for direct links to airports and listed Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore and White Plains, New York, as possible candidates for Amtrak service. Some are already served by local commuter rail lines, such as Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which connects to the Philadelphia International Airport.

"The vision we will shape with the Northeastern states, Amtrak and all of our stakeholders will outlast the vagaries of politics, budgets and critics," said Joseph Szabo, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, which oversees Amtrak, of the 2012 report.

There's more than a little to be critical of when discussing Amtrak's record on high speed rail and upgrading its infrastructure. It has consistently lagged behind on its maintenance and upgrades of infrastructure, and while it has moved ahead with bridge replacement projects elsewhere on the NEC, particularly in Connecticut, the three major bottlenecks on the system are in New Jersey - the Portal Bridge, the tunnels into Manhattan, and the Harold Interlocking, which is Sunnyside Queens where LIRR, NJ Transit, and Amtrak trains have to pass through in a coordinated ballet to keep everything resembling a schedule. Those projects would apparently be included in the overall $151 billion approach.

Something has to give on the costs involved. There's no reason why Amtrak's costs to upgrade are anything approaching $335 million a mile for the NEC between Boston and DC. It costs France's SCNF far less to build a mile of new rail, but that has to be tempered by the fact that the Amtrak right of way is seriously constrained because of urban development throughout the NEC and acquisition costs would be far higher in the US. Still, there are ways that Amtrak can and should bring the costs to upgrade the system down.

Still, $151 billion as spread over 30 years is something approaching $5 billion a year - a major infusion of money but not nearly as eye popping. This is investment in infrastructure and it would mean tens of thousands of construction jobs up and down the East Coast. It would mean steelmakers and fabricators would be supplying new rail and equipment. Technology companies would be providing equipment to make the system more reliable. Engineering firms would be generating jobs for those to design and build the network.

In other words, while Amtrak would be spending the money, it would be private enterprises that are generating the jobs and revenues that would have long term benefits to the local and national economy. It would also build a robust backup to the creaking air travel system.

It's also worth noting that California is about ready to delve into a high speed boondoggle of its own where it's proposing to build a high speed rail network not to connect San Francisco with San Diego via Los Angeles, but rather, inland where there's a fraction of the population to support such a network. It was a political decision so that the money could be obtained, not because it made economic sense.

The California HSR project route was decided not because of practicality or revenue, but by which parts of the state would be able to get it to run through their communities, even though it would mean tearing up farmland and requiring condemnation of land (eminent domain). Instead of using a routing that required fewer eminent domain proceedings and a more direct route, they chose the one that had the political backing. So, California will find itself with a HSR that few will end up using, cost more than it should, and everyone will point to it as a reason not to do HSR in the US.

The HSR setup in France and Japan is similar to an airport hub and spoke approach. You build the hubs in the major urban centers, and connect those with HSR. As the system grows, you can expand the HSR to secondary satellite communities and then with urban rail networks. This way, you maximize population density that would take advantage of the HSR, you can achieve travel times that can not only meet but beat air travel (especially considering the time to pass through security, to say nothing of having to travel to an airport that is frequently on the outskirts of the city, not the city center as most rail facilities are located).

Amtrak's Northeast corridor is the opposite approach - it's already a profitable route for Amtrak and if Amtrak could get the system up to speeds approaching HSR found in Europe or Asia, it could not only win commuters away from the airlines, but it would reduce congestion in the air- improving the travel for fliers too since commuter flights between Boston, DC, and New York are a significant cause for delays throughout the US airspace because of congestion at the New York area airports. It's all the more reason to throw support behind the Amtrak plan. It has a path to profitability and generating economic development to say nothing of jobs.

UPDATE:
The Amtrak documentation can be found here. It's a manageable 42 page document, complete with charts, graphs, and how the new right of way would be organized. It would essentially create a 4-track express/local track configuration with the express track capable of handling the HSR.

Capital investment would be phased in - with the section around New York City being key to the overall strategy. That means getting the Gateway/Portal Bridge/Harold Interlocking done is critical to the overall strategy. It also means a significant chunk of the $151 billion is going to the New York metro area for design and construction. Considering that the Portal Bridge is estimated to run $1.3-1.8 billion, while the Gateway Tunnel is another $13-15 billion ($14.7 billion as per page 24). Page 31 addresses the segment costs. Interestingly, rolling stock is the lowest cost of the entire package - $5.2 billion, which makes sense since the infrastructure construction costs are the lion's share of the project.

It also addresses expanding existing capacity - including acquiring 40 additional Acela express passenger cars to lengthen train-sets by 2015 (expanding capacity by 40%). By 2020, Amtrak hopes to acquire new high-speed train sets (doubling service from NYC to DC) as well as complete the Portal Bridge and Harold Interlocking/Sunnyside Yards projects as well as upgrading the power systems through New Jersey.

By 2025, it hopes to get Gateway Tunnel done and to finally get more regularly scheduled Acela trips between NYC and DC and Boston. It's only by 2040 that the full HSR would be realized.

The document also provides new renderings for the Moynihan Station, which would expand Penn Station under the Farley Post Office. It wouldn't expand capacity, but rather rejigger space under the post office and MSG.

What's interesting is that the HSR plan for the NEC would include an entirely new alignment inland from New Rochelle, New York through Providence, Rhode Island. The alignment wouldn't change south of New York City. A newly configured Shoreline Express would cover those cities covered by the current NY to Boston alignment, with regional service supplementing service.

The Amtrak vision also indicates that there would be express and super express service - direct NYC to DC and NYC to DC routings - with no intermediate stops. Other trains would stop at designated city stops.

The Amtrak plans for rolling stock - the locomotives and train sets, would depend greatly on whether the FRA would allow an off-the-shelf solution or needing to build a system from the ground up. Frankly, it would be far cheaper to go with an off-the-shelf system, but that would mean likely buying from a foreign source (think France, Japan, or other European or Asian providers).

The Never Ending Story: Delays Plague Northeast Corridor Over Power Problems

Amtrak and NJ Transit have a broken record. It's called power problems on the Northeast Corridor causing extensive delays in and out of New York's Penn Station due to issues at the Hudson River tunnels.

And it's happened again. There are 30-60 minute delays or more along the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Lines and Midtown Direct service is going to Hoboken.

This is a problem that happens so frequently, it's almost better to recognize the few days where there aren't delays than to focus on the days when delays occur due to issues with the power systems that constantly break down or malfunction.

Building new Hudson River tunnels wont fix the problem. Replacing and modernizing the power systems throughout the region would. That's still an ongoing problem and the replacement and modernization is occurring in a piecemeal fashion and will take years before everything gets updated. The ongoing failure to maintain and upgrade services throughout the years has left the system dangerously close to collapse. Grafting a new tunnel onto the existing infrastructure will only give a veneer of improvement, but the power systems have to be improved or else the contemplated tunnels will not have the intended benefits.

Latest NJ Transit Customer Satisfaction Survey Leaves Riders Wanting

After receiving poor grades across the board on the first customer satisfaction survey earlier this year, NJ Transit got bad news when it released the results from the follow-up survey.

The results were even worse.

Of course, the results were skewed by several serious rail disruptions occurring just as the current survey was being distributed (derailments and major disruptions causing significant delays).

On a scale of 0 to 10, rail customers gave NJ Transit an overall grade of 4.2 in the agency's latest "Scorecard" customer satisfaction survey, down from 4.5 in April during the initial survey.

The score from bus customers went up slightly, from 5.5 in April to 5.6 in the latest survey.

For all modes of transportation, the systemwide NJ Transit score was 5.3, up from 5.2 percent in April.

The latest survey was taken by about 15,000 customers between Aug. 2 and Aug. 22. Smack in the middle of that time period was a train derailment outside New York Penn Station on Aug. 9 that led to two mornings of hellish commutes.

NJ Transit Executive Director Jim Weinstein, a rail commuter from Hamilton to Newark, said the Scorecard is the cornerstone to make the agency better and more responsive to customers.

The only way that the overall score could rise from 5.2 to 5.3 is if more bus riders were submitting surveys than rail users because the rail service was significantly worse during the latest period covered.

Service on the Main/Bergen line has been particularly bad, especially in the wake of Hurricane Irene and the disruptions on the Port Jervis line ended up affecting service due to poor planning and logistical issues in having equipment in place to handle the additional customers. Indeed, the agency all but admitted that they screwed up with a lack of information and they've eventually improved service.

Problems continually dog service along the Northeast Corridor, including power problems, Portal Bridge issues, and other delays that end up costing customers time and money.

There are no quick and easy fixes, but all customers want is to get prompt notifications when there are service disruptions so that they can have time to make alternative plans.

Amtrak to Spend $450 Million on NEC Upgrades In New Jersey

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that Amtrak will spend $450 million to upgrade tracks and power systems in New Jersey that will enable the Acela trains to cruise along at 160 mph, which would be the fastest a passenger train can go in the United States. A total of $745 million will be spent by Amtrak nationally to upgrade services.

Critics are already deriding the spending on the high speed rail segment as costing $4.5 million per second improvement on speed in New Jersey, but they're ignoring the real issue here. These improvements are all about the power and rail reliability improvement. Speed is a secondary benefit. Critics are seizing upon the cost versus speed to claim that the project isn't worth it, but they ignore the costs of having an unreliable passenger rail/commuter rail system that is the most heavily used in the nation.

Power issues regularly cause massive delays along the entire Northeast Corridor (NEC) and spillover delays affect the LIRR and NJ Transit services. Power problems occur all too frequently and cost commuters billions of dollars over the years in lost opportunity costs and wasted time due to the problems.

Fixing the power issues will resolve a longstanding bottleneck along the NEC and will improve the reliability of Amtrak and NJ Transit.

The next step will be to replace the Portal Bridge, which everyone concedes requires replacement, but which has lacked funding because everyone tries to tie that bridge project together with the Hudson River tunnel projects (the cancelled ARC or the proposed Gateway). The Portal Bridge replacement would further improve reliability (just yesterday trains were delayed 15-20 minutes through the morning commute due to the bridge being opened for river traffic). The replacement bridge would allow higher speed through that segment of the NEC, but it would be a far more reliable component of the NEC than at present.

NJ Transit Must Be Held Accountable For Today's Massive Delays

NJ Transit had what it later described as a minor derailment during this morning's rush hour. What it called a minor derailment caused massive delays throughout both the morning and evening rush hours. In fact, the delays spilled over to rail lines that should never have been affected but for the agency's massive failures.

There was no reason for the kinds of delays seen on the train lines running out of Hoboken. There was a time when Hoboken could handle traffic from the Midtown Direct trains and all of its existing rail lines (Bergen/Main, Pascack, Montclair-Boonton, and other lines) without succumbing to the delays seen today. In fact, there was more train traffic just a few years ago before NJ Transit cut service.

That goes to the incompetence of the agency to deal with the derailment.

Why couldn't the agency make the necessary repairs from what it considered a minor derailment in time for the evening rush hour? Why did it delay making repairs until after 8pm tonight, rather than trying to get everything fixed in time for the evening rush hour? Delays may have eased on the Bergen/Main line, but can riders expect a normal commute in the morning?

I doubt it.

Those are mistakes that cost riders real time and money and countless hours of aggravation.

NJ Transit deserves all the scorn and derision one can muster for its awful performance once again. It belatedly admitted that there was a derailment on the NEC; had it done so from the outset, commuters who know better than to trust agency pronouncements about delays would know better than to contemplate traveling altogether and/or preparing for a real long commute. Instead, it stuck to claims that there were 60-90 minute delays on the NEC and NJCL, while 15-20 minutes on the other lines. Problem is that the Bergen-Main line delays were self inflicted with extra time spent waiting at Secaucus for trains that were supposedly canceled or not operating.

It's absolutely inexcusable.

Meanwhile, all the talk about how the Gateway/ARC tunnel would have alleviated this mess is ignoring the fact that NJ Transit is hopelessly incapable of informing riders of delays or resolving problems in a timely manner. It has cut train service into Hoboken and yet it was forced to cancel trains on unaffected lines for no reason. It couldn't find train crews to man trains that were fully loaded. Those have nothing to do with Gateway or the lack of new tunnels, and everything to do with failure of management to deal with contingencies that it knows are likely.

It acted as though this was the first time that there have been problems on the NEC; when it's had problems on a weekly basis. You can't solve those problems with new tunnels alone - and with NJ Transit showing itself to be a poor steward of its capital program, the $1 billion in expected cost overruns for the ARC tunnel were going to seem like rosy projections. NJ Transit couldn't afford ARC, neither could taxpayers, and commuters would have had to shell out even more outrageous fares to cover the agency's multiple failures.

NJ Transit Goes Off Rails In Latest Customer Survey

NJ Transit has done an incredibly poor job in the past year following rate hikes and service cuts. That double whammy, combined with a series of ongoing problems along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) snarling traffic and ruining the commutes for hundreds of thousands of people daily has meant that the agency rightfully suffered in its latest customer survey.

The problems on the Northeast Corridor aren't always within the agency's control since the tracks and power systems are shared with Amtrak. However, NJ Transit has done a poor job in communicating about delays on those NEC trains.

The rail schedules also aren't conducive to getting people out of cars and onto mass transit; the schedules simply don't provide service into the evening, even though people would be willing to take mass transit into Manhattan to avoid the hassle of finding parking and dealing with the traffic in the city. The same people who commute regularly are likely to consider using mass transit at other times, but the rail schedule is lacking in many areas and service has been cut because the agency simply lacks the operating funds because they've blown so much money on projects that have not stayed within budget (see Secaucus junction aka the boondoggle, or the Ramsey Route 17 transit station that is sorely underutilized and two nearby stations remain open despite their close proximity).

The agency needs to orient itself better to customer needs and the top priority must be to reduce problems along the NEC and better communicate when problems do occur.

I've been relatively thankful that the conductors on my trains along the Bergen Line have been good at issuing updates on problems with the NEC, but that's an exception - and the statistics bear this out.

Clearly, riders see that fares and mechanical reliability are major problems - and they have been for years. The issues with mechanical reliability should have been resolved with the purchase of hundreds of new double-decker cars and refurbished Comet IV and V cars, along with dozens of new electric and diesel locomotives, but apparently the problems are much deeper than that. The problems are institutional. That goes to top management and all down the line.

UPDATE:
The agency is set to vote on a new budget, and it will be slightly higher than last year to account for higher fuel costs. No fare hikes are proposed in the budget, and while lip service is being paid to the survey, it remains to be seen whether NJ Transit can turn things around and improve on-time performance and performance during service disruptions.

Transportation Department Announces $2+ Billion In Rail Projects

Once Florida's Governor Rick Scott canceled the high speed rail project, other states scrambled to lay claim for projects in their state.

Today, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced who would receive the funds.

The big winner?

For a change, it was the Northeast Corridor (NEC), including the segment in New Jersey. The NEC will be getting significant upgrades for its overhead catenary power lines from Pennsylvania through New Brunswick, New Jersey and the Portal Bridge will be getting funding:

In what the president of Amtrak termed the first step toward getting the Gateway commuter train tunnel from Secaucus to Manhattan, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the Northeast Corridor rail line south of New Brunswick is getting $450 million for improvements that will allow speeds up to 160 mph.

Amtrak president Joe Boardman said the money – freed up after Florida rejected federal high-speed rail funds – will increase reliability on the Northeast Corridor, America’s busiest rail corridor.

He said replacing the Depression Era overhead catenary wires and upgrading the power are key components -- along with replacing the century-old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River – in getting the Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River.

"This is part of the Gateway project,” Boardman said from New York Penn Station, where the Gateway Tunnel would connect. “This is a critical hurdle.”

Replacing catenary wires and improving the electrification for Amtrak trains between New Brunswick and Morrisville, Pa., will improve reliability for the corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., officials said.

Sagging or frayed wires are a frequent bane of Northeast Corridor travelers in New Jersey, causing delays and making a difficult commute harder.

Other Northeast Corridor improvements announced today were $22 million toward replacement of a century-old bridge in Maryland and $295 million to alleviate delays for trains coming in and out of Manhattan with new routes that allow Amtrak trains to bypass a busy passenger rail junction in Queens.

The Portal Bridge doesn't exactly receive funding under the proposals and it's again being tied with the more politically suspect Gateway Tunnel - which is the successor project to the canceled ARC Tunnel.

Regardless of what happens with the tunnel project, everyone agrees that the Portal Bridge must be replaced. It is one of the critical bottlenecks on the NEC. Improving the power infrastructure along the NEC is a major concern to eliminate ongoing issues particularly in the summer when the overhead wires frequently lose power or come down in storms, get entangled in equipment, or otherwise cause delays and congestion throughout the NEC. The overhead power lines are obsolete in many locations and Amtrak has been slowly upgrading those power lines but hasn't had the funds available to complete the job along the entire NEC.

The Portal Bridge is another piece that needs replacement and upgrade, and it should not be tied to other projects that are wound up in political squabbles.

Here's the rundown of all the projects affecting the NEC:

NORTHEAST CORRIDOR (NEC)
Amtrak – NEC Power, Signal, Track, Catenary Improvements – $450 million to boost capacity, reliability, and speed in one of the most heavily-traveled sections of the Northeast Corridor, creating a 24-mile segment of track capable of supporting train speeds up to 160-mph.

Maryland – NEC Bridge Replacement – $22 million for engineering and environmental work to replace the century-old Susquehanna River Bridge, which currently causes frequent delays for commuters due to the high volume of critical maintenance.

New York – NEC Harold Interlocking Amtrak Bypass Routes – $295 million to alleviate major delays for trains coming in and out of Manhattan with new routes that allow Amtrak trains to bypass the busiest passenger rail junction in the nation.

Rhode Island – NEC Kingston Track, Platform Improvements – $25 million for design and construction of an additional 1.5 miles of third track in Kingston, RI, so high-speed trains operating at speeds up to 150-mph can pass trains on a high-volume section of the Northeast Corridor.

Rhode Island – NEC Providence Station Improvements – $3 million for preliminary engineering and environmental work to renovate the Providence Station. These upgrades will enhance the passenger experience, keep the station in good working order and improve transit and pedestrian connectivity.

The Harold Interlocking is another source of delays, and a bypass would further increase speed on the NEC between New York and Boston.