Where would $2b do the most good?

[Wash]

Imagine that you have the authority to invest $2b dollars in various infrastructure rail infrastructure projects in the US. This money has to be invested in projects that improve passenger (and freight, but emphasis on passenger) rail services with an emphasis on speed and schedule reliability. with only $2b, the focus should be on quick-and-dirty projects that aren't all that glamorous, but offer outsized rewards.

What projects would you invest in in the following regions:

1: Northeast Corridor
2: New England/Upstate New York
3: Upper Midwest
4: Lower Midwest
5: South
6: Southwest
7: California
8: Northwest
9: Mountain West
10: Plains West
11: National focus/operations

Here are my ideas:

1: Crash repairs of the East River Tunnels, and if anything's left, plow it into the Portal Bridge replacement.

2: MBTA commuter rail system electrification.

3: Reroute Amtrak onto NICTD tracks in IN, improve the line accordingly.

4: Improve the ex-ATSF line from CHI to KSC so that it can support 90 mph running for the foreseeable future.

5: Plow more money into VA rail improvements so they can happen faster. Once Brightline goes bankrupt, buy it out and actually do something about grade crossing safety.

6: Uhhh...longer passing sidings?

7: Crash high-leveling of all the Caltrain platforms/fleet replacement, ideally taking place over the course of about a week. I don't care if you need to hire every construction worker in CA.

8: Uhhh...Sounder electrification?

9: Uhhh...longer passing sidings again?

10: Uhhh...more longer passing sidings?

11: Federal tax incentives for less-than-carload freight shippers?

[Backshophoss]

This should wait till corona virus is dealt with!!
That 2b was just spent by he critters on that virus tonight!!

[jcpatten]

Alas 2 billion doesn't buy a meaningful amount of infrastructure these days.

[mtuandrew]

Assuming this $2b was free and clear of other obligations and needs (shout-out to Backshophoss) and that you could use it to leverage more state and governmental entity funding (shout-out to jcpatten) I would dedicate it like so:

-$500m to the most immediate capacity boost on the NEC. If the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel replacement, then condition it on Maryland matching some of the funds if needed. If Portal Bridge and Sawtooth Bridge, ask for money from New Jersey and PANYNJ. It could be a start to Gateway even, getting whatever tunnel segments built as are possible.

-$500m to build out an Amtrak-owned (or at least long-term-leased) eastern approach to Chicago. I’m looking for something that would funnel every train from the City of New Orleans to the Pere Marquette into the south side of Chicago Union Station.

-$500m to build new cars, both regional and long-distance. This wouldn’t be nearly enough for a full order but would be a start; if built slowly enough, Amtrak could finance the next $500m from operating profits.

-$500m to renovate America’s stations or build new ones, as part of matching grants to localities and property owners. This includes ADA accessibility as much as possible, like gauntlet tracks and platform improvements.

Now, where’s the next $10b specifically for Gateway?

[Pensyfan19]

I think some of you know what I'm going to say... especially about how they would be operated/funded.....but I'm not going to mention that since I aleady annoyed enough people with my ideology and I don't want to get banned.

But if I would have to fund rail infrastructure, I would fund the greater Midwest region which is especially lacking rail service in some parts. Some examples would include restoring lines in Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, etc., and having more frequent service for some of the heavily traveled routes, or those which need increased service frequency such as Chicago-Minneapolis, Chicago-Cincinnati, Chicago-Onaha, Chicago-Louisville, and maybe St. Louis-Detroit.

Also regarding the sidings, I would support building freight sidings. Since almost all of Amtrak's trains are delayed by freights on areas which only have one or two tracks where there used to be more, it would make sense to restore some of the tracks which used to exist in order to allow for more frequency on that line, and to have passenger trains have the right of way and have the freights wait on sidings, similar to what is currently being developed for the freight siding along the Hiawatha route.

Lastly, I would support newer or refurbished stations which could hold more trains and more people with the waiting rooms. In order to acompany all of this, I would also support funding of new or rebuilt/refurbished coaches and locomotives to be used on these services.

[DutchRailnut]

any amount of money, would need to benefit projects in all states , it could not be used for just a few projects.
or no politician would approve such a expenditure of tax payer money.

[SouthernRailway]

MBTA electrification, since it would affect many more passengers in a good way than any Amtrak improvements would.

[BandA]

You didn't say just Amtrak, you said projects that would have outsized rewards, especially for speed & reliability. So I'll ignore the $2B cap, think outside the box, but still keep it out of total foam-land.

[*]Layover space for coaches, maintenance facilities(is this a need?). Parking sufficient for demand.
[*]Abundant extra spares & protect equipment to improve reliability.
[*]Commitment from freight hosts to keep Amtrak trains on schedule. Joint combined Amtrak + expedited freight trains, in cooperation with freight railroads.

[*]In NY/NJ, build the two tunnels but for reasonable not super-deluxe cost. If cost runs over, cancel the project.
[*]Build expanded Penn Station (Penn South?), including at least one express track for bypassing Penn Station at speed. Yes, I said skipping NYP.

[*]Expedite customs facility in Montreal, add more trains NYP-Montreal & extend Vermonter.

[*]In New England, electrify MBTA Boston-Providence service. Design trains with batteries allowing short power gaps, when this is available electrify MBTA Boston-Framingham without raising bridge clearance. Boston-Springfield, implement MBTA local, commuter, and express service tiers, and Amtrak Inland Regionals.
[*]Full-blown Downeaster schedule, about 12 trains a day.
[*]NYP - Maine through service via NEC & Grand junction, changing to diesel at New Haven?, skipping both BOS & BON but adding Kendall Sq Cambridge & another subway station stop.

[*]Implementation of streamlined coupling / decoupling and streamlined brake tests. This is through improved technology, robots, and streamlined procedures. (Driverless and conductor-less) Automatic Train Operation.

[*]Research into vehicles capable of faster braking and steeper grades than traditional steel-on-steel.

[mtuandrew]

BandA: why bypass NYP with a deep-level tunnel? Unless you’re looking for a freight tunnel that is, which would be welcome for other reasons that belong in the NYA/NYNJ freight shortline forum.

[BandA]

I didn't say deep level tunnel, although that would work. I was suggesting just bypassing the station platforms. Everybody says that all the passengers get on or off at NYP but I think there would be a market for passengers that are trying to get from one side to the other, and might even free up some station capacity.

[orulz]

Alleviating bottlenecks on the existing NEC, or taking measures to extend the NEC past its existing termini are the most critical improvements, because they build exponentially on what is already there. Here are the options:

1. North River Tunnel
North River tunnel is obviously the most critical, but also heavily mired in red tape and excess scope at the moment. There is no proper agreement between the multitudinous stakeholders: Amtrak, MTA, LIRR, MNRR, NJT, USDOT, NY, NJ, Port Authority. Did I miss anybody? The Gateway Program as we know it today tries to paper over the turf battles and lack of agreement by spending billions of dollars on extra scope like the multi-billion dollar mistake known as Penn South. Similar problems wound up in the expensive, mostly unnecessary cavern below GCT for East Side Access. Unless these agencies stop protecting their bureaucratic territory so jealously (with such obvious contempt for the idea of customer service and stewardship of public funds), $2 billion dropped on that project today is likely to go up in smoke with absolutely nothing to show for it. So, hard pass.

2. B&P Tunnel
$2b is a big down payment on B&P, but that project seems beset with excess scope and red tape as well, with too many constituencies and stakeholders (Is it a passenger project ? A freight project? Both? Who will pay?). State support of rail transportation remains tepid under Gov. Hogan, who basically loathes Baltimore. Critical enough to be worth a look, but probably another pass.

3. North-South Rail Link
A $2b federal infusion might change the calculus in Mass. and get the state to take it seriously rather than sandbag it. That said, even at Swedish costs, $2b by itself would not be enough to pay for NSRL done right, so extra funding would have to be found. Thanks to the fantastic local grassroots group TransitMatters, things are starting to look up - but only just starting. This project mostly benefits regional rail, which is a fine and worthy thing to spend money on, but if this $2b is earmarked for Amtrak - meaning intercity rail - while extending regionals to Portland would be popular, it would not be nearly as much of a game changer as an extension from the opposite end of the NEC, which leads me to:

4. Long Bridge/Virginia
Virginia has just committed a huge chunk of state funding toward passenger rail. Doubling down in Virginia by dropping an extra $2b on passenger rail on top of what the state is already planning to spend could provide the spark to turn what currently looks to be a generational, incremental program into a "big bang" with something like full buildout (including electrification) down to Richmond in 10 years.

So, in case you can't tell, number 4 (Long Bridge/Virginia) is my pick.

[Greg Moore]

I think some of the projects listed (new Hudson tunnels, Baltimore tunnels, etc) are all worthy projects, but require far more money than that.

So assuming this is a one shot deal and I can't guarantee followup money (so starting the Hudson tunnels with this may end up being wasted money if there's no followup) I'd go with new equipment.

Yes, right now ridership is drastically down, but it will go back up.

More equipment means more routes and more frequency. There's an old rule in computers (and elsewhere) that the power of a network scales faster than the number of nodes. And as we've seen having enough frequencies, like the Downeaster and in Virginia, means ridership goes up in a faster than linear fashion because taking the train suddenly becomes more practical.

So, I'd look to expand the fleet, add at least 100 Amfleet equivalent cars (probably actually buy far more than that and replace the worst equipment) and more locomotives.)

Additional routes, is an operating cost, but once you have equipment, you have options.

[east point]

Keep the partial Amtrak mothballed and ready to resume whenl this Corona -19 crisis ends.

[mtuandrew]

Keep the partial Amtrak mothballed and ready to resume whenl this Corona -19 crisis ends.

$2b would do a lot to fund paychecks of those who’ve been laid off or sent home unpaid due the virus, at Amtrak and every passenger rail agency. As well as for people nationwide, but that’s another matter beyond this forum.

[bdawe]

Realistically, pretty much any single good NEC project that comes in under $2b is going to have the most rider-mile / rider-hour / rider-generating improvements.

That said, I'm going to throw out there a Chicago-and-eastern passenger-primary route, to enable Michigan Service, Capitol & Lakeshore Ltd, Cardinal, and numerous trains-that-should-exist-but-don't to get in and out of Chicagoland quickly and reliably. A couple billion could hopefully fund extra tracks, grade separations, speed & signalling upgrades and right-of-way acquisitions that would get the busy freight traffic of chicago out of the way of many more fast passenger trains