...From Christopher Conkey in the Friday 20 February online edition of The Wall Street Journal...Amtrak Expects Little Stimulus Impact
WASHINGTON -- The chief executive of Amtrak said Americans should expect only "incremental" progress in improving passenger rail service, despite an $8 billion program included in the stimulus bill targeted at high-speed rail projects.Between the economic recovery package and separate legislation that passed last year, Amtrak stands to receive nearly $3 billion this year, more than double its usual funding level. But CEO Joseph Boardman said in an interview that previous funding shortages, a backlog of deferred maintenance and last year's record ridership have produced a government-owned rail corporation being held together "with chewing gum and rubber bands."
"We can improve Acela [Amtrak's high-speed service between Washington and New York] in many ways and reduce the travel time from New York to Washington to two hours and 30 minutes, including five stops," down from the current trip time of two hours and 50 minutes, Mr. Boardman said. "We can go down to two hours, but then you're talking billions of dollars."
The amount of money provided in the stimulus package for transportation projects and the requirement to spend it quickly means the emphasis will be on small-scale rehabilitation work rather than major new roads, tunnels or transit systems.
"There is such a backlog of highway and bridge projects. That will no doubt be the primary use," said Allen Biehler, secretary of the Pennsylvania transportation department.
The $8 billion pot of high-speed-rail funding included in the stimulus plan in last-hour negotiations will flow to the Department of Transportation, which will decide which intercity corridors to fund. That will almost certainly benefit Amtrak, since it is currently the only operator between many big cities. "There isn't anybody else," said Mr. Boardman, a Republican who headed the Federal Railroad Administration before accepting the top job at Amtrak in November.
But as long as most Amtrak trains run on crowded freight-rail tracks, the U.S. will remain far from building a European-style network of bullet trains. Amtrak's swiftest offering, the Washington-to-Boston Acela service, briefly hits a top speed of 150 miles per hour but averages only 62 mph between New York and Boston. Many of its trains get bogged down on lines that are owned and operated by freight railroads. By contrast, the 190-mile Brussels-to-Paris trip averages about 140 mph.
"We're not Europe," Mr. Boardman said. "We have a huge and world-renowned freight rail system in this country, and that's where we run most of the miles we run on Amtrak."
Mr. Boardman's view was echoed Wednesday by other government officials. John Smith, mayor of Meridian, Miss., said the high-speed-rail funding would go into "incremental projects that will improve trip times on existing" routes.
"If we're talking about acquiring totally new corridors and rights of way," Mr. Smith said, "I certainly may not live to see that happen."
Amtrak will soon receive $1.3 billion in stimulus funding. About $850 million of it will be used for long-overdue capital projects, such as repairing old rail cars and replacing a nearly 100-year-old bridge spanning the Niantic River in Connecticut. The other $450 million will go toward security enhancements.
The impact of new investment in intercity corridors would be felt gradually as new signals, tracking and sidings are added, Mr. Boardman said. The goal in many cases would be to reduce interference between passenger and freight trains. That could improve on-time rates and reduce travel times, making rail service more competitive with buses, cars and airlines.
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The Front Range of the Rockies from south of Albuquerque north through Colorado into central Wyoming at Casper is expected to be included as a highspeed rail corridor once all three states complete studies, planning, and authorizations; this should be finalized within the next 22 months. The long range plan is for a complete 765 mile route length to be fully operational within a decade at the latest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/20rail.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
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