Northeast Corridor
| Northeast Corridor | |
|---|---|
 Acela Express near Philadelphia
| |
 Amtrak (red), Metro North Railroad and MBTA (blue)
| |
| Route length: | 734 km |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Top speed: | 240 km / h |
| Dual track : | continuously |
As Northeast Corridor ( dt. Northeast Corridor ), abbreviated NEC, the busiest passenger is rail transport connection to the populous northeast coast of the United States designated. It stretches from Boston through New Haven , New York , Philadelphia and Baltimore to Washington, DC . The 734-kilometer line is fully electrified and is currently the only major electrically operated long-distance railway line in the USA. It is mostly owned by Amtrak , but the route is also used by other rail companies with different trains. The section between New Rochelle and New Haven is owned by the Metro North Railroad .
history
After many private operators, two railway companies emerged as route operators at the beginning of the 20th century. North of New York the New Haven , south of it the Pennsylvania Railroad . Both maintained extensive local, long-distance and freight traffic. The routes of both companies were connected at Penn Station in New York since 1914.
Because of a ban on steam locomotives in New York, both companies used electric locomotives to reach the station. Both of them initially only consumed power by means of busbars.
It was not until the 1930s that both companies completed the electrification of their route network with overhead lines with 11 kV / 25 Hz alternating current. New Haven kept the power rail to Grand Central Station in the New York area .
After the merger of New York Central with Pennsylvania in 1967 to Penn Central , this company took over New Haven at the end of 1968. Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970. Long-distance passenger transport was taken over by the newly founded semi-state long-distance operator Amtrak on May 1, 1971 , while the other transports initially remained with Penn Central.
For freight transport, the rescue company Conrail was founded on April 1, 1976 , and ownership of the north-east corridor was transferred to Amtrak. Only on January 1, 1983, Conrail gave the local transport services to newly founded and existing local transport operators. Metro North also became the new owner of the corridor section between New Rochelle and New Haven.
As part of the ICE Train North America Tour , a German ICE was on presentation trips in the second half of 1993 and on scheduled services between October and December. A Swedish X2000 had previously been used on the route.
today
The NEC is currently the only high-speed line in the United States. Between Washington, DC, New York City and Boston, connections are offered with the French- style Acela Express trains, which are an alternative to cars and airplanes . For these trains, the route north from Pelham to New Haven was converted from 1985 to 1986 to 12.5 kV / 60 Hz and the route from New Haven to Boston was electrified in 1999 with 25 kV / 60 Hz.
The Acela Express trains run on one section each in Rhode Island and Massachusetts at 150 mph, but the sections together are only 33 km long. To the east of New Haven there are several sections of the route that can be driven at 180 km / h or 200 km / h.
West of New York, the Acela Express trains are limited to 220 km / h with many sections that can only be traveled at 200 km / h. Many sections of the route would be straight enough so that it could also be driven at 240 km / h, but this is not possible due to the type of contact line still in operation from the times of the Great Depression . In contrast to what is usual in Europe, the overhead contact line created during the Great Depression does not have any post-tensioning and tends to sag at higher outside temperatures. It can therefore be driven at a maximum of 220 km / h. Slack overhead lines repeatedly lead to operational disruptions, especially in summer. A conversion would be very time-consuming, as the supporting structures would have to be replaced (which is now also provided for in the NEC-UP program, see section Expansion program ).
New line
In 2010, a start was made on testing new routes for trains up to 350 km / h in the northeast corridor - in the southern part (Washington, DC - New York) parallel to the old line, which is almost 100% full. In the vicinity of the big cities, the line already has four tracks, which are shared with regional trains and freight trains. In the northern part (New York - Boston), in addition to the previous coastline, completely new routes are being considered, which could lead to the travel time being halved.
Amtrak is trying to raise public funds for the “Next-Gen” project, as the population in the region is growing rapidly and roads and airports are already operating at their limit. With a new high-speed line, a large part would be relocated to the railways, and the shorter connection between the metropolises Washington, DC - New York - Boston over a distance of one and a half hours each would strengthen the greater economic area.
| Washington New York |
New York Boston |
Boston Washington |
annotation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acela Express | 2:42 | 3:31 | 6:33 | |
| Next-Gen Express | 1:55 | 1:46 | 4:06 | comparable number of stations as Acela Express |
| NG Super Express | 1:36 | 1:23 | 3:23 | only with Philadelphia but two stops in New York |
| Flight connection | 3:05 | 3:08 | 3:28 | Flight time plus 2 hours for travel and check-in / boarding |
Amtrak will submit a business plan by mid-2012 detailing funding needs. The plans will be presented at an international congress (8th World Congress on High Speed Rail) in Philadelphia in July 2012. In the “Amtrak Vision for the Northeast Corridor - 2012 Update Report” it was shown that mostly new stations for high-speed traffic are being built along the route. The planning for Boston was based on feedback via Providence , where the existing route in the urban area will be expanded to four tracks and the previous regional train stations will be converted with the support of the state to create through tracks for high-speed traffic. The route of the 2012 Update Report for the new line from New York to Providence does not run parallel to the old line through the coastal towns of New Haven and New London , which are instead served by their own "Shoreline Express", but a few dozen kilometers inland via Danbury , Waterbury , Hartford , with only the latter being a stop on the “NextGen SuperExpress”, also as a change to the railway line between Springfield and New Haven.
In addition, an extensive NEC-UP expansion program was added, the benefits of which are hoped to finance the new construction program - instead of up to 10 billion in some years, NextGen will then be able to limit itself to a maximum of 4 billion US dollars in grants from the federal budget. Amtrak argues that 50 to 80 percent of the cost of infrastructure projects in highways and airports has been consistently borne by federal funds, and is hoping for grants of a similar amount. In California, the argument that expanding the interstate by several lanes would lead to costs similar to those required for the construction of a new high-speed line was impressive.
Expansion program
Amtrak has also started planning a number of modernizations along the route. The last revision from September 2012 also revises the proposals for the new construction program for the high-speed line “NextGen” and adds a broad expansion program “NEC-UP” ( NorthEast Corridor Upgrade Program ). In the expansion program, a number of major projects will be implemented by 2025 at a cost of 33.5 billion US dollars.
The upgrading of the route from Washington to New York accounts for a large share of US $ 14.5 billion. In particular, for the improvements to the overhead line, which will then be self-tensioning, as well as the replacement of some old bridges, federal funds were secured that were originally intended for the high-speed traffic of other states, but can no longer be used by them. The improvements will make it possible to raise the speed barriers on large parts of the route - the Acela Express has only been able to use its top speed for a dozen kilometers so far. The costs also include the purchase of 40 new Acela Express, which can then be used every hour. Further route improvements for 3.9 billion US dollars relate to the section from New York to Boston. The overall goal of upgrading lines and vehicles is a speed of 257 km / h (160 mph) with a continuous separation of high-speed traffic from other rail traffic in the north-east corridor.
The largest share of 14.9 billion US dollars, however, has the Gateway Project , which aims to resolve the bottleneck between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station . In addition to some new bridges, this mainly includes a new tunnel under the Hudson River . The groundbreaking ceremony for the first part, the Palisades Tunnel ( Palisades Tunnel ) was on June 8, 2009 (the name derives cliff slopes, called the "Palisades" on the western Hudson shore ab). The tunnel access at the northern end in Manhattan, the so-called " tunnel box ", was included in the planning documents of the Hudson Yards development program in February 2013 . The construction of the actual main tunnel under the Hudson River has not yet been secured.
In addition to the NEC-UP expansion program, the additional funds from the NextGen program are now being distributed over the new lines - of which US $ 51.4 billion in the Washington-New York corridor, which will allow commissioning in 2030, and US $ 58.0 billion in the corridor New York-Boston with a planned commissioning from 2040. The overall expansion of the northeast corridor including NEC-UP and NextGen then adds up to the previously mentioned 151 billion US dollars - federal funding has not yet been secured, as a preliminary measure Amtrak is participating in the Development of the high-speed trains for the new high-speed line in California , which are also projected for 350 km / h (220 mph). (This cooperation was abandoned by the CaHSR, however, because the technical requirements diverge too far and, for reasons of cost, they want to fall back on internationally common designs for California.)
Accidents
On May 12, 2015, Amtrak's Northeast Regional train 188 derailed at the Frankford Junction junction in the borough of Port Richmond on its way from Washington to New York in the Port Richmond rail accident in Philadelphia. According to preliminary investigation reports, the train accelerated to 106 mph (171 km / h), although the maximum speed on the section of line was 50 mph (80 km / h). The driver initiated emergency braking, but the train derailed in a left turn east of Frankford Avenue at 102 mph (164 km / h) and came to a halt at a neighboring freight yard. Eight passengers were killed and around 200 injured. There were a total of 238 passengers and five Amtrak employees on board the train. The ACS-64 locomotive 601 damaged in the accident had only been put into service in 2014. On May 19, 2015, Amtrak changed the automatic block signals at the Shore checkpoint in front of the bend in which the accident occurred so that they no longer indicate free travel, but only a maximum of approach medium (i.e., continued travel at a medium speed limit). In contrast to fixed speed limits along the route, signal displays can already be enforced by the safety devices of the trains using emergency brakes. On May 21, 2015, the Federal Railway Administration ( FRA ) issued an Emergency Order No. 31 (Immediate Instruction No. 31) that the curve in which the accident happened, as well as all others along the Northeast Corridor that require a speed reduction of 20 mph (32 km / h) or more, be immediately equipped with safety devices who monitor the speed of the trains and can initiate an emergency brake if necessary. In addition, additional signs are to be attached to these curves along the route, which indicate the speed reduction. In a press conference after the accident, Amtrak President Joseph H. Boardman promised to equip the entire Northeast Corridor with Positive Train Control by the end of 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Connecticut's Aging Rail Technology Is Causing Breakdowns From Both Heat and Cold. WNYC Transportation Nation Blog, July 27, 2011, accessed May 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Lack Of Investment By CT Makes It Harder To Recover From Derailment. WNYC Transportation Nation Blog, May 20, 2013, accessed May 21, 2013 .
- ^ A b A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor . September 28, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ↑ Amtrak moves aggressive agenda for 2012 . Amtrak. press release. January 16, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
- ↑ The Amtrak Vision for the Northeast Corridor - 2012 Update Report (PDF; 10.0 MB) Amtrak. July 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b Amtrak lays it on the line for the NEC . International Railway Journal. September 4, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
- ↑ Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority are joining forces this coming week to begin the process of ordering up to 62 sets of high-speed trains for use in both the Northeast Corridor and in the Golden State . UIC press release. January 22, 2013. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
- ↑ In California's high-speed train efforts, worldwide manufacturers jockey for position . The Fresno Bee. December 27, 2014. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
- ↑ Philadelphia: Disaster may have hit an object . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. May 16, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ↑ Amtrak says, it was just months away from installing safety system . The New York Times. May 15, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
