Amtrak: America’s Railroad
TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH H. BOARDMAN PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AMTRAK
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AND MERCHANT MARINE INFRASTRUCTURE, SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013 2:30 P.M. 253 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
The Northeast Corridor capacity challenge - today THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR 800 REPRESENTATIVE WEEKDAY TRAIN MOVEMENTS - SPRING 2007 750 VRE A mtak. NJT, LIRR train NY P Includes train movements operating 700 movementsPenn show Station n separately only on NEC "Spine" Right-of-Way MARC to keep reasonable scale. 650 LIRR New York NJT 600 SEPTA 550 CSX 500 NS MBTA 450 MN 400 SLE P&W
TRAINS per DAY DAY per TRAINS 350 AMTRAK 300
250
200
150
100
50
0 A C A J Y T V A A A N J T T T T V VA V , N NJ N C C C , RI , RI ., , , V , MD , DE , DE n , t, C C , , n t d s, , re, MD r k ts, PA k r d, d, n on nd, VA r d e n o e rk h to o r r rd o t fo a al to iv a ton, fo fo gt s in S a il o d r m w y Oa ig mil wic ORK , y t n g nsto a n ti R e l e a Y a ra anfo ter in ra M M R e Lo N H ns Airp w t r K Ashl k H ru y o S B a C - th ss r Perryville, MD Hol lls rt R W tonni Hebronville, RI BOSTON, MA d u o A e e Westbrook, CTS Route 128, MA 2 o r Bowie State, MD w B ib NEW S C w e L New Rochelle, NY mon WASHINGTON,West D Bal PHILADELPHIA,rn P - h o N k Gunpowder C Ric war e N The Northeast Corridor capacity challenge - tomorrow
Boston
Providence
New Haven
Newark New York
Philadelphia Wilmington
Baltimore Segment exceeding Washington capacity by 2030
Projected NEC capacity situation, 2030 3 Opening Portal Bridge
NJ Transit train holding for Portal bridge opening
Tugboat
All trains entering or leaving New York from the south must cross the century-old Portal Bridge – a double-tracked swing bridge over the Hackensack River that opens to admit river traffic and closes to operate 4 trains (each opening requires 4 people onsite, typically 4-6 openings/week)
Maintaining Portal Bridge
Work goes on at Portal Bridge between trains, with “flag protection” – workers stand aside to let trains pass at speed (60mph) 5 Focus on the passenger
6 The Gateway Project
New Portal Bridge 7 Today’s Amtrak System
8 The Amtrak system - minus western long distance services
This shows what happens if you remove the six long distance trains with 9 the highest annual total operating loss