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 - 800 750 700 650 VRE 600 MARC LIRR 550 REPRESENTATIVE WEEKDAY TRAIN MOVEMENTS - SPRING 2007 NJT 500 SEPTA 450 CSX TRAINS per DAY NS 400 MBTA THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR 350 MN 300 SLE P&W 250 A mtak. NJT, LIRR train NY P AMTRAK movementsPenn show n separately 200 to keep reasonable scale. 150 today 100 New Station 50 0 York Richmond - Main St., VA Ashland, VA South Milford, VA Cross Roads, VA Arkendale, VA Lorton, VA Includes train movements operating WASHINGTON, DC only on NEC "Spine" Right-of-Way Bowie State, MD West Baltimore, MD Gunpowder River, MD Perryville, MD Newark, DE Holly Oak, DE PHILADELPHIA, PA Cornwells Heights, PA Hamilton, NJ New Brunswick, NJ Newark- Liberty Airport, NJ NEW YORK , NY New Rochelle, NY Rowayton, CT Stratford, CT Branford, CT Westbrook, CT Waterford, CT Stonnington, CT Kingston, RI Cranston, RI Hebronville, RI Route 128, MA BOSTON, MA 2 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.