Results are presented of a study of potential fixed-plant improvements to commuter and intercity rail passenger service between Boston and New York that was conducted by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center under the direction of a Departmental Task Force established by the Secretary of Transportation. A range of alternative improvement programs were identified and characterized. A hierarchy of five alternative programs was defined, ranging from a basic set of projects needed to maintain safety and rehabilitate the existing infrastructure (yielding modest performance gains), to programs that also include substantial capital investment in track work, signaling, electrification, and potential curve and route alignments, which could trim up to 1 hr 30 mins from the current best scheduled triptime of just under 4 hrs. The study found that an investment of about $1.1 billion is needed during the next decade to bring the existing infrastructure to a state of good repair.
Abstract