Crazy Transit Pitches

So it's not exactly available for heavy rail. Perhaps light rail, then?
 
My Ridership Projections...factor in Extensions , Natural growth , TOD / infill around the stations and increased service.

Current System

(Kingston) / Providence line - 28,000 (2010) > 45,000 (2030)
Greenbush line - 5,600 (2010) > 8,800 (2030)
(Milford) / Franklin line - 13,000 (2010) > 17,200 (2030)
Needham line - 8,400 (2010) > 15,000 (2030)
Fairmount line - 2,200 (2010) > 21,700 (2030)
Old Colony lines - 20,000 (2010) > 48,000 (2030)
Worcester line - 19,000 (2010) > 35,000 (2030)
(Portsmouth) Newburyport / Rockport line - 18,000 (2010) > 31,000 (2030)
(Plaistow) / Haverhill line - 10,000 (2010) > 16,900 (2030)
(Concord) / Lowell line - 12,000 (2010) > 63,000 (2030)
(Wachuetts) / Fitchburg line - 11,000 (2010) > 14,300 (2030)
Stoughton / (South Coast network) - 3,600 (2010) > 62,000 (2030)
Blue line - 67,000 (2010) > 105,000 (2030)
Red line - 179,000 (2010) > 210,000 (2030)
Orange line - 181,000 (2010) > 235,000 (2030)
Mattapan - Ashmont line - 7,600 (2010) > 13,200 (2030)
Green line - 240,000 (2010) > 320,000 (2030)

Future lines....

Blue line extension to Lynn - 25,000
Green line extension to Somerville & Union SQ - 75,000
Springfield - Battleboro line - 7,400
Quonset Branch (seasonal) - 13,000
Woonsocket line - 25,000
Cape Cod line - 16,500
 
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I think you're overestimating on the Red Line unless you're factoring in upgrading the line to support 8-car trains.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
My Ridership Projections...factor in Extensions , Natural growth , TOD / infill around the stations and increased service.

Current System

(Kingston) / Providence line - 28,000 (2010) > 70,000 (2030)
Greenbush line - 5,600 (2010) > 8,800 (2030)
(Milford) / Franklin line - 13,000 (2010) > 17,200 (2030)
Needham line - 8,400 (2010) > 15,000 (2030)
Fairmount line - 2,200 (2010) > 21,700 (2030)
Old Colony lines - 20,000 (2010) > 48,000 (2030)
Worcester line - 19,000 (2010) > 35,000 (2030)
(Portsmouth) Newburyport / Rockport line - 18,000 (2010) > 31,000 (2030)
(Plaistow) / Haverhill line - 10,000 (2010) > 16,900 (2030)
(Concord) / Lowell line - 12,000 (2010) > 63,000 (2030)
(Wachuetts) / Fitchburg line - 11,000 (2010) > 14,300 (2030)
Stoughton / (South Coast network) - 3,600 (2010) > 62,000 (2030)
Blue line - 67,000 (2010) > 105,000 (2030)
Red line - 179,000 (2010) > 250,000 (2030)
Orange line - 181,000 (2010) > 235,000 (2030)
Mattapan - Ashmont line - 7,600 (2010) > 13,200 (2030)
Green line - 240,000 (2010) > 320,000 (2030)

Future lines....

Blue line extension to Lynn - 25,000
Green line extension to Somerville & Union SQ - 75,000
Springfield - Battleboro line - 7,400
Quonset Branch (seasonal) - 13,000
Woonsocket line - 25,000
Cape Cod line - 16,500
Click to expand...

Jersey -- there are Crazy transit pitches and then there are some kind of pyscho-active enhanced visions

I didn't type the numbers into a real calculating system, I just added the rough numbers -- but it looks as if in less than 20 years you've added nearly 500,000 riders to the T

Today the T supplies transit service to about 1 Million people daily -- with many of the trips terminating in downtown Boston -- you are proposing nearly a 50% increase in riders and presumably a nearly 50% increase in the passengers arriving and presumably working in downtown Boston

I've never seen any projections which remotely approach those kind of growth in employment in Boston and certainly not that kind of growth in T passengers
 
You are massively over estimating on the Providence line, at least - and doubly so if a Woonsocket line gets going.

I would place an honest bet on the Providence line ridership statistics staying almost exactly the same in the next 20 years.
 
I might have overestimated the Red line and the Providence line , but I stand by the rest. TOD is factored heavily into those numbers , if I can recall correctly MA doesn't have or is just starting there TOD suburban push. The T is what NJT /PATH was back in 1990 , both agencies added over 700,000 in New riders over 20 years. Yes granted that was due to NYC / Urban Jersey Job Growth , but the rest was due to a aggressive suburban TOD push which can be seen in most towns. The same is probably going to occur in your region over the next 20 years. One station on the PATH went from 20 people a during the 80s to 15,000 after the TOD was built around it , some Suburban stations went from just 300 people to almost 8,000. Suburban TOD is what has driven the growing ridership trend in this region....it might be hard to believe but its possible if you build up right. Ive seen TOD / Redevelopment plans for Quincy , Lynn , along the Fairmount corridor , Providence and Worcester.... Not all of this will be New Ridership , some will be people transferring from one line to another. Like for example Phase 1 & 2 of the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) will be used by an estimated 683,000 daily riders , but only 85,000 new riders will generated. Now with most of the future lines being commuter rail and not Urban Rail you'll see a higher New Ridership rate then when they extend the Green and Blue lines. Most of the New Ridership on those lines won't be newer T users , just current ones transferring between lines. I have a station by Station guide , thats even more crazy....i will post that later.....
 
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Nexis4Jersey, why do you have no expansion plans for the Orange Line?
 
Nexis4jersey said:
I might have overestimated the Red line and the Providence line , but I stand by the rest. TOD is factored heavily into those numbers , if I can recall correctly MA doesn't have or is just starting there TOD suburban push. The T is what NJT /PATH was back in 1990 , both agencies added over 700,000 in New riders over 20 years. Yes granted that was due to NYC / Urban Jersey Job Growth , but the rest was due to a aggressive suburban TOD push which can be seen in most towns. The same is probably going to occur in your region over the next 20 years. One station on the PATH went from 20 people a during the 80s to 15,000 after the TOD was built around it , some Suburban stations went from just 300 people to almost 8,000. Suburban TOD is what has driven the growing ridership trend in this region....it might be hard to believe but its possible if you build up right. Ive seen TOD / Redevelopment plans for Quincy , Lynn , along the Fairmount corridor , Providence and Worcester.... Not all of this will be New Ridership , some will be people transferring from one line to another. Like for example Phase 1 & 2 of the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) will be used by an estimated 683,000 daily riders , but only 85,000 new riders will generated. Now with most of the future lines being commuter rail and not Urban Rail you'll see a higher New Ridership rate then when they extend the Green and Blue lines. Most of the New Ridership on those lines won't be newer T users , just current ones transferring between lines. I have a station by Station guide , thats even more crazy....i will post that later.....
Click to expand...

Jersey -- Transit Oriented Development - of which quite a bit exists in MA - doesn't suddenly attract people to move from Texas or Florida it just may change the way that the population is distributed at the margins

Because of the strong town structure in Massachusetts the majority of decisions made with respect to development in general and housing density are made at the town level. Many of the towns built themselves out at single family low suburban density development style. In many inner suburban towns such as Lexington,, you essentially have to buy somebody's house to be able to buy a "buildable lot"

For various reasons, this is a "slow-grow," high-cost region with immigration of foreigners just about balancing out-migration of native born citizens. See Google Public Data on population change from 1980 until 2010 (30 years) -- where the Massachusetts population went from 5.7 M to 6.5 M -- and significant amount of the increase occurred outside of the T's service area such as on the Cape

http://www.google.com/publicdata/ex...200000&hl=en&dl=en&q=massachusetts+population

Finally, unless something dramatically changes to reverse current trends respect to family size and age of the population and such - those kinds of growth in T use would require whole-sale changes in commuting patterns in less than 20 years.

For ref purposes here is some annual data taken from the T's own summaries for the Red Line daily turnstile counts for over a decade



1997 2006 2009
ALEWIFE 9409 9567 10657
DAVIS 10695 10891 11628
PORTER 7355 8089 8552
HARVARD 20212 19146 21868
CENTRAL 11736 12415 14531
KENDALL/MIT 11214 11408 13975
CHARLES/MGH 7855 8672 10615
PARK STREET 6535 6535 8237
DOWNTOWN Xing 12381 12386 11746
SOUTH STATION 20778 18826 20647
BROADWAY 3742 4115 4200
ANDREW 4646 5372 5586
JFK/U.MASS 7561 8163 7834
SAVIN HILL 1769 2004 1863
FIELDS CORNER 4697 5203 4152
SHAWMUT 1745 2196 2241
ASHMONT 8536 9799 6019
NORTH QUINCY 5955 7469 7132
WOLLASTON 4269 4493 4347
QUINCY CENTER 6426 7076 7913
QUINCY ADAMS 4477 4538 4383
BRAINTREE 3424 3159 4387
TOTAL 175417 181522 192513
 
whighlander said:
Jersey -- Transit Oriented Development - of which quite a bit exists in MA - doesn't suddenly attract people to move from Texas or Florida it just may change the way that the population is distributed at the margins

Because of the strong town structure in Massachusetts the majority of decisions made with respect to development in general and housing density are made at the town level. Many of the towns built themselves out at single family low suburban density development style. In many inner suburban towns such as Lexington,, you essentially have to buy somebody's house to be able to buy a "buildable lot"

For various reasons, this is a "slow-grow," high-cost region with immigration of foreigners just about balancing out-migration of native born citizens. See Google Public Data on population change from 1980 until 2010 (30 years) -- where the Massachusetts population went from 5.7 M to 6.5 M -- and significant amount of the increase occurred outside of the T's service area such as on the Cape

http://www.google.com/publicdata/ex...200000&hl=en&dl=en&q=massachusetts+population

Finally, unless something dramatically changes to reverse current trends respect to family size and age of the population and such - those kinds of growth in T use would require whole-sale changes in commuting patterns in less than 20 years.

For ref purposes here is some annual data taken from the T's own summaries for the Red Line daily turnstile counts for over a decade



1997 2006 2009
ALEWIFE 9409 9567 10657
DAVIS 10695 10891 11628
PORTER 7355 8089 8552
HARVARD 20212 19146 21868
CENTRAL 11736 12415 14531
KENDALL/MIT 11214 11408 13975
CHARLES/MGH 7855 8672 10615
PARK STREET 6535 6535 8237
DOWNTOWN Xing 12381 12386 11746
SOUTH STATION 20778 18826 20647
BROADWAY 3742 4115 4200
ANDREW 4646 5372 5586
JFK/U.MASS 7561 8163 7834
SAVIN HILL 1769 2004 1863
FIELDS CORNER 4697 5203 4152
SHAWMUT 1745 2196 2241
ASHMONT 8536 9799 6019
NORTH QUINCY 5955 7469 7132
WOLLASTON 4269 4493 4347
QUINCY CENTER 6426 7076 7913
QUINCY ADAMS 4477 4538 4383
BRAINTREE 3424 3159 4387
TOTAL 175417 181522 192513
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention that i factored in higher gas prices into the numbers , in 20 years the cost of gas will probably change the regional commuting habits and more people will use the T. Probably an Addition 100,000 , and like I said above not all of this is new ridership.
 
Here's the NJT / PATH / PATCO projections for comparison....theres a suburban and Urban TOD boom going on down here with large scale projects. Some take up a Sq mile. Urban areas are starting to grow faster and develop denser then the suburban areas which explains ridership increases along the Morristown , Main , Northeast Corridor , and Montclair lines , Reverse commuting is growing to Satilite cities like Hackensack , New Brunswick and Paterson which why there is an Increase along the Pascack Valley , NEC and ML. Urban Density changes and Infill stations will fuel the increases along the LRT network... Some mega Projects in Jersey City , Harrison , and Newark will add between 50-70,000 to the PATH , along with natural growth. Most these projections are from the county , some are mine...there 1990 projections for 2010 were spot on for the most part... Alot of Ridership along Future lines will shift over from the current overloaded regional bus system.

-Light Rail

Hudson Bergen Light Rail - 54,000 (2010) > 140,000 (2030)
Newark Light Rail - 21,000 (2010) > 40,000 (2030)
Riverline - 11,000 (2011) > 25,000 (2030)

-PATH - 254,000 (2011) > 340,000 (2030)
-PATCO - 35,000 (2010) > 51,000 (2030)

-Regional Rail

Atlantic line - 1760 (2010) > 5,000 (2030)
Northeast Corridor - 53,800 (2010) > 170,000 (2030)
North Jersey Coast line - 17,800 (2010) > 35,000 (2030)
Raritan Valley line - 12,100 (2010) > 25,000 (2030)
Main Line - 9,160 (2010) > 30,000 (2030)
Bergen County Line - 4,300 (2010) > 17,000 (2030)
Pascack Valley Line - 3,617 (2010) > 16,000 (2030)
Montclair-Boonton Line - 10,142 (2010) > 21,000 (2030)
Morristown Line - 50,000 (2010) > 75,000 (2030)
Gladstone Branch - 3036 (2010) > 6,500 (2030)

Future Regional , Bus Rapid Transit & Light Rail lines

Gateway Project - 150,000
MOM Rail Network - 130,000
West Trenton line - 15,000
Philpsburg Connections - 30,000
Glassboro LRT - 25,000
West Trenton LRT - 15,000
Pompton Branch - 4,600
Old Boonton Branch - 12,000
Newark LRT Extensions - 45,000
Northwest line - 15,000
Bergen - Passaic LRT - 9,000
West Shore line - 45,000
Kingsland Branch - 5,000
Cape May line - 3,400
Northern Branch LRT - 60,000
New Brunswick LRT - 85,000
Infill Stations on the Regional Rail system - 30,000
Infill Stations on the LRT system - 70,000
Route 3 Busway - 15,000
Route 4 Busway - 25,000
Route 55 Busway - 37,000
Route 9 Busway - 25,000
Route 1 Busway - 45,000
Mount Prospect Ave Busway - 15,000
Bloomfield Avenue Busway - 32,000
I-280 Busway - 36,000
I-80 Busway - 45,000




Total Rail Ridership in 2010/2011 : 536,985
Total Rail Ridership in 2030 : 1.5 Million
Total Bus & Rail Ridership in 2010 : 1.7 Million
Total Bus & Rail Ridership in 2030 : 2.6 Million
 
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Nexis4jersey said:
I factored in Assembly SQ in my ridership projections , as for extended the line to where?
Click to expand...

The Orange Line's southern terminus is well within city limits. It's the only direction that doesn't manage to leave the city other than the Blue Line's abrupt downtown termination. There is an easy extension to West Roxbury that would serve a densely populated and underserved section of the city. If you want to make it to the suburbs, there is even an unused spur that could get it as far as Dedham.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
I factored in Assembly SQ in my ridership projections , as for extended the line to where?
Click to expand...

Needham via West Rox, Dedham via West Rox, Dedham via Readville, 128 via Readville. And a few others, but those are the biggest posibilities on the southern end.

As for the northern end, one stop up the Haverhill Line to Wyoming Hill, or full out replace the whole Reading Branch of the Haverhill Line with the Orange Line.
 
My State to State Intercity Rail crazy pitch taken from plans..

Intercity Rail

Current / Proposed , Planned , Under Construction Stations

Next Gen High Speed Rail Northeast

Next Gen Super Express (Max : 220mph : Average : 190mph)
Washington DC Union Station
Philadelphia Market East Station
New York Penn Station
New York Grand Central
Boston Back Bay Station
Boston South Station

Next Gen Express (Max : 220mph : Average : 160mph)
Washington DC Union Station
BWI Airport Station
Baltimore Charles Center
Wilmington HSR Station
Philadelphia In't Airport
Philadelphia Market East
Trenton Transit Center
Newark Liberty Airport
Newark Penn Station
New York Penn Station
Grand Central Station
White Plains HSR Station
Danbury HSR
Waterbury HSR Station
Hartford Union Station
Worcester HSR Station
Boston Back Bay
Boston South Station

Next Gen Shoreline Express (Max : 160mph : Average : 125mph)
Washington DC Union Station
BWI Airport Station
Baltimore Charles Center
Wilmington HSR Station
Philadelphia Market East
Newark Penn Station
New York Penn Station
Stamford Station
New Haven Union Station
Providence Union Station
Boston Back Bay Station
Boston South Station

Next Gen Long Island Express (Max : 180mph : Average : 155mph)
Washington DC Union Station
BWI Airport Station
Baltimore Charles Center
Wilmington HSR Station
Philadelphia In't Airport
Philadelphia Market East
Newark Liberty In't Airport
Newark Penn Station
New York Penn Station
Jamaica - JFK Airport Station
Nassau Hub
Farmingdale - Route 110
Ronkonkoma - Mac Arthur Airport
Terryville (SUNY Stony Brook)
New Haven Union Station
Meriden Station
Hartford Union Station
Tolland (UConn)
Worcester HSR Station
Metro West HSR Station
Riverside HSR Station
Back Bay Station
South Station


Intercity Amtrak , Entire system will be Electrified Eventually

Max : 125mph : Average : 100mph

Northeast Regional - Main line
Boston South Station
Boston Back Bay Station
Route 128
Providence
Kingston
Westerly (Limited)
Mystic (Limited)
New London
Old Saybrook (Limited)
New Haven Union Station
Bridgeport
Stamford
New Rochelle
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Newark Liberty International Airport (Limited)
Metropark
New Brunswick (Overnight)
Princeton JCT (Overnight)
Trenton
Cornwells Heights (limited)
North Philadelphia (Limted)
30th Street Station
Wilmington
Newark
Aberdeen
Baltimore Penn Station
BWI Airport
New Carrollton
DC Union Station
Alexandria
Woodbridge
Quantico
Fredricksburg
Ashland
Richmond Staples Mill Road
Richmond Main Street
Williamsburg
Newport News

Northeast Regional - Springfield Shuttle
Springfield
Windsor Locks (shifted to commuter rail in 2018)
Windsor (shifted to commuter rail in 2018)
Hartford
Berlin (shifted to commuter rail in 2018)
Meriden (shifted to commuter rail in 2018)
Wallingford (shifted to commuter rail in 2018)
New Haven Union Station
Bridgeport
Stamford
New Rochelle
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Newark Liberty International Airport
Metropark
New Brunswick
Princeton JCT
Trenton
Cornwells Heights
North Philadelphia
30th Street Station
Wilmington
Newark
Aberdeen
Baltimore Penn Station
BWI Airport
New Carrollton
DC Union Station

Northeast Regional - Lynchburg Branch
Boston South Station
Boston Back Bay Station
Route 128
Providence
Kingston
Westerly
Mystic
New London
Old Saybrook
New Haven Union Station
Bridgeport
Stamford
New Rochelle
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Newark Liberty International Airport
Metropark
New Brunswick
Princeton JCT
Trenton
Cornwells Heights
North Philadelphia
30th Street Station
Wilmington
Newark
Aberdeen
Baltimore Penn Station
BWI Airport
New Carrollton
DC Union Station
Alexandria
Burke Centre
Manassas
Culpepper
Charlottesville
Lynchburg
Roanoke
Bristol

Vermonter
St. Albans
Burlington-Essex Junction
Waterbury-Stowe
Montpelier-Barre
Randolph
White River Junction
Windsor-Mt. Ascutney
Claremont
Bellows Falls
Brattleboro
Greenfield
Northampton
Holyoke
Springfield
Windsor Locks
Windsor
Hartford
Berlin
Meriden
Wallingford
New Haven Union Station
Bridgeport
Stamford
New Rochelle
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Metropark (weekends only)
Trenton
30th Street Station
Wilmington
Baltimore Penn Station
BWI Airport
New Carrollton
DC Union Station

Keystone Service
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Newark Liberty International Airport (Limited)
Metropark
New Brunswick (Overnight)
Princeton JCT (Overnight)
Trenton
Cornwells Heights (limited)
North Philadelphia (Limted)
30th Street Station
Ardmore
Paoli
Exton
Downingtown
Coatesville
Parkersburg
Atglen
Lancaster
Mount Joy
Elizabethtown
Middletown
Harrisburg

Pennsylvanian
New York Penn Station
Newark Penn station
Trenton
30th Street Station
Ardmore (train 44 only)
Paoli
Exton (trains 42 & 44 only)
Downingtown (train 44 only)
Lancaster
Mount Joy
Elizabethtown
Middletown
Harrisburg
Lewistown
Huntingdon
Tyrone
Altoona
Johnstown
Latrobe
Greensburg
Pittsburgh

Empire Service
New York Penn station
Yonkers
Croton Harmon
Poughkeepsie
Rhinecliff-Kingston
Hudson
Albany-Rensselaer
Schenectady
Amsterdam
Utica
Rome
Syracuse
Rochester
Buffalo-Depew
Buffalo-Exchange St.
Niagara Falls

Downeaster Service
Boston North Station
Woburn
Haverhill
Exeter
Durham
Dover
Wells
Saco-Biddeford
Old Orchard Beach
Portland
Freeport
Brunswick

Proposed / Planned lines

Lackawanna line
New York Penn Station
Newark Board Street Station
Summit
Dover
Delaware Water Gap
East Stroudsburg
Analomink
Pocono Mountain
Tobyhanna
Scranton
Binghamton

Cape Cod Service
New York Penn station
New Rochelle
Stamford
Bridgeport
New Haven
New London
Westerly
Kingston
Providence
Pawtucket
Taunton
Buzzards Bay
Barnstable

Norfolk Service (Opens in 2013)
Boston South Station
Boston Back Bay Station
Route 128
Providence
Kingston
New London
New Haven Union Station
Bridgeport
Stamford
New Rochelle
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Newark Liberty International Airport (Limited)
Metropark
New Brunswick (Overnight)
Princeton JCT (Overnight)
Trenton
Cornwells Heights (limited)
North Philadelphia (Limted)
30th Street Station
Wilmington
Newark
Aberdeen
Baltimore Penn Station
BWI Airport
New Carrollton
DC Union Station
Alexandria
Woodbridge
Quantico
Fredricksburg
Ashland
Richmond Staples Mill Road
Richmond Main Street
Chester
Petersburg
Suffolk
Norfolk

Lehigh Line
New York Penn station
Newark Penn Station
Easton
Bethlehem
Allentown
Emmaus
Macungie
Lyons-Kutztown
Fleetwood
Reading
Wyomissing (Could be shifted to Regional Rail after Reading line restored)
Lebanon
Hershey
Harrisburg
 
Jersey -- the max speeds are two high -- costs ramp-up drastically as speeds get over 200 mph unless you have fully dedicated well maintained track -- e.g. TGV

Northeast Corridor will never be fully dedicated to high speed rail without an astronomical investment in new land for ROW with new river crossings, etc.

So how do you make the average speed high without having a high peak speed?

The solution (unless you want an exercise for the reader) is to not stop -- essentially non stop service to all major destinations -- minor destination are reached by connecting from nearby major destinations

Once you make that decision then a lot of good things come your way:
1) much shorter. lighter trains -- essentially one good rail car in length
2) Subway like headways -- max 15 minutes per departure to the major destinations
3) no need for tickets, conductors -- you board with a Charlie Card and automated reader
4) All station platforms are on small sidings with the main line running straight through
5) All traction is electrical with individual motors for each wheel -- makes going around curves easy, rapid acceleration to full cruise speed -- 130 to 150 mph for mainlines -- 90 to 120 for lines with lesser quality track
6) Power can be overhead, 3rd rail or locally generated depending on the part of the system
7) All vehicles are under full central control with GPS location -- but they can run autonomously or cooperatively sharing their position and velocity date

So a notional system might involve the following Non Stop departures from Boston South Station:
with main line southwest also stopping at Back Bay and Rt-128:
with main line west also stopping at Back Bay and Riverside:
with main line southeast also stopping at JFK/UMass & Braintree

1) NYC Penn -- 15 min
NJ stops
NY Metro stops
Long Island stops
Hudson River Valley

2) Philadelphia 30th St. -- 15 min
Delaware
MD
DC
Pittsburgh

3) Providence -- 15 min
Providence Airport
New London
New Haven
Fall River
New Bedford

4) Plymouth -- 30 min
Cape Cod at Buzzards Bay this side of Bridge
Falmouth
Middleboro


5) Foxboro
Taunton

6) Worcester -- 15 min
Leominster
Framingham
Marlboro

7) Springfield -- 30 min
Bradley Field
Hartford
Pittsfield

8) Albany -- 30 min

9) Hartford -- 30 min
 
Those Next Gen plans call for New ROW in New England , and bypass sections through Baltimore , Wilmington , Philadelphia , Newark and New York to give a faster and less congested route. All the plans call for track sharing and added tracks between DC and NY. Up to 6 tracks between Delaware and NYC , constant tension Catenary the entire length... The Shore line or old NEC route would then be upgraded to at least 160mph and 4 tracked through Mass and RI. The Amtrak Plan calls for mostly private investment , which would be through PPP's. Seeing how PPP's are gaining steam throughout the Northeast so I could see this getting built. 3rd Rail is out of the question , it has a max speed of 100mph , although have the electrified system down here is 3rd rail...its only good for regional rail...and urban rail... As for the secondary lines those would be overhead powered by 25kV/50Hz AC which is becoming the standard for Electrified regional rail in the US and Europe. As for cost , the New England section on both plans is the most expensive due to the land that needs to be bought up. The LI option is really out of the question due to costs...and NIMBYS. Once in New England there are multiple routes , one is to follow I-84 from NY to MA and skirt Worcester while heading to Boston , this plan would capture a huge chunk of the population , but for some reason Amtrak rejected it and went with the more costly Woonsocket option which really makes no sense. NYC - NJ Upgrades will cost 20 Billion , Philly tunneling will cost 2-4 Billion , so will Baltimore , Wilmington will be 500 Million. Adding 2-3 tracks in MD , DE , PA , and NJ will cost 10-15 Billion....there also have to be new yards built in NJ , PA and MD to accomendate these new trains.
 
I have to agree with the need for a new ROW dedicated exclusively to the Acela. Running your superfast express train on the same tracks as a commuter rail is borderline psychotic, honestly, and it doesn't matter how fast you "could" run the train if you're going to have to brake for slower trains ahead again...

...and again...

...and again.

For that matter, stopping a dozen times between here and there is obnoxious. In the future, the Acela should blow through Back Bay, Route 128, and Providence at 150mph like it does at Kingston Station already. You get on at South Station, the next stop is New Yahwk.
 
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