White House and U.S. DOT To Expedite Projects Along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor

On Friday, January 13, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a pilot program aimed at fast-tracking environmental reviews along Amtrak's heavily traveled Boston-to-Washington D.C. rail corridor. Under this program, CEQ and U.S. DOT will work with local elected officials and stakeholders to speed the environmental review process, which will help determine possible service types and station locations along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC). The pilot program calls for involving federal, state, and local governments, as well as the public, earlier in the environmental review process to set benchmarks that maintain "rigorous" environmental protections, while also saving time and money by avoiding conflicts and delays in later project-development steps, according to the CEQ and U.S. DOT.

Several major upcoming projects along the corridor that could benefit from these expedited reviews include the proposed Gateway Tunnel from Secaucus, NJ to New York City's Penn Station and upgrades to Great Depression-era overhead wires that power Amtrak trains through NJ. The proposed multi-billion dollar Gateway Tunnel was supposed to be built by 2020, but thus far has only received $15 million for engineering and design. The new tunnel under the Hudson River would support an additional 13 NJ Transit trains during peak hours and an additional eight Amtrak trains an hour. U.S. DOT has already obligated $450 million to replace overhead catenary train wires and upgrade the electrical system on the NEC between New Brunswick, NJ to just south of Trenton, NJ. The upgrades would allow trains to operate at speeds upwards of 160-mph and will increase reliability on a rail line where sagging or downed wires cause numerous delays.

The U.S. DOT will post and track project timelines and progress on the "Federal Infrastructure Projects Dashboard" at www.performance.gov

"By bringing all involved parties to the table earlier in the process, we will do the job better and finish it sooner," U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman noted, "the decision to expedite the federal environmental review process for NEC high-speed rail projects is great news for all users of the NEC who are seeking increased passenger-rail capacity, mobility and connectivity in the region. A faster review process will help speed along Amtrak’s efforts to rebuild and improve today’s corridor and advance Amtrak’s vision to develop a new high-capacity, 220 mph next generation high-speed rail system serving the region, including our Gateway program to bring more track, tunnel and station capacity into the heart of Manhattan.”

To view the full press release from U.S. DOT and the CEQ, click here

Posted in: policy,Ryan Jeroski,transit