Amtrak's Northeast Corridor: Information on the Status and Cost of Needed Improvements (Briefing Report, 04/13/95, GAO/RCED-95-151BR). The Northeast Corridor--stretching from Washington, D.C., to Boston, Massachussetts--serves more than 100 million passengers per year and is the most heavily used passenger train corridor in the United States. The corridor is used by Amtrak's eight commuter railroads and by four freight railroads. Since 1978, the federal government has invested more than $3 billion to provide high-speed passenger service throughout the corridor. This briefing report provides information on the status of Amtrak's improvements to facilities high-speed operations in the north end of the corridor and on capital investment needs throughout the corridor. GAO discusses (1) the ownership and use of, and operations over, the corridor; (2) the projects and costs associated with upgrades to allow high-speed operations on the north end of the corridor; and (3) the capital investment needed in the south end of the corridor. --------------------------- Indexing Terms ----------------------------- REPORTNUM: RCED-95-151BR TITLE: Amtrak's Northeast Corridor: Information on the Status and Cost of Needed Improvements DATE: 04/13/95 SUBJECT: Railroad transportation operations Railroad industry Appropriated funds Mass transit operations Repair costs Maintenance costs Future budget projections Financial management Investments IDENTIFIER: Amtrak Northeast Corridor Amtrak Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Amtrak Northeast High-Speed Rail Improvement Project Amtrak Centralized Electric Traffic Control System Amtrak Strategic and Business Plan ************************************************************************** * This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a GAO * * report. 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We are unable to accept electronic orders * * for printed documents at this time. * ************************************************************************** Cover ================================================================ COVER Briefing Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate April 1995 AMTRAK'S NORTHEAST CORRIDOR - INFORMATION ON THE STATUS AND COST OF NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS GAO/RCED-95-151BR Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Abbreviations =============================================================== ABBREV CDOT - Connecticut Department of Transportation CETC - Centralized Electric Traffic Control system FRA - Federal Railroad Administration LIRR - Long Island Railroad MARC - Maryland Rail Commuter Service MBTA - Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority MTA - Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York NECIP - Northeast Corridor Improvement Project NHRIP - Northeast High-Speed Rail Improvement Project NJT - New Jersey Transit PATH - Port Authority Trans Hudson Corporation SEPTA - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority SBU - Strategic Business Unit SLE - Shore Line East Letter =============================================================== LETTER B-260935 April 13, 1995 The Honorable Trent Lott Chairman, Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: The Northeast Corridor---from Washington, D.C., to Boston, Massachusetts---serves more than 100 million passengers per year and is the most heavily used passenger train corridor in the United States. The corridor is used by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), eight commuter railroads, and four freight railroads. Since 1976, the federal government has invested more than $3 billion to provide high-speed passenger service throughout the corridor. Amtrak acquired ownership of most of the right-of-way along the Northeast Corridor from the bankrupt Penn Central Railroad through the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 and the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. As part of the 1976 act, the Congress established the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project (NECIP) and set a goal of achieving scheduled passenger rail service in 3 hours or less between New York City and Boston, and in 2 hours and 40 minutes between New York City and Washington.\1 Although Amtrak began offering service in 2 hours and 40 minutes in 1983, it has continued to improve the south end of the corridor. Amtrak is now improving the north end---in particular, installing an electric traction system---so that it can offer service in less than 3 hours by 1999. Amtrak recently created a Northeast Corridor Strategic Business Unit and made it responsible for completing the construction of and operating the corridor. This briefing report responds to your request that we provide you with interim information on the status of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor improvements to facilitate high-speed operations in the north end of the corridor and on capital investment needs throughout the corridor. Specifically, we are providing information on (1) the ownership and usage of, and operations over, the corridor; (2) the projects and costs associated with improvements to allow high-speed operations on the north end of the corridor; and (3) the capital investment needed in the south end of the corridor. This report summarizes the information we provided to your staff during a briefing on April 6, 1995. In summary, we found the following: Although Amtrak owns about 85 percent of the right-of-way along the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston,\2 it is a relatively small user of the corridor. Three state commuter rail authorities own the remaining portion. Seven commuter railroads operate about 91 percent of the passenger trains that use the corridor each year.\3 However, these users' operations are generally very localized, whereas Amtrak uses the corridor in its entirety. By 1999, Amtrak will invest about $1.6 billion in improvements to the north end of the corridor to implement high-speed service (in less than 3 hours) between New York and Boston. This investment includes about $360 million to electrify the track, $600 million to purchase and maintain high-speed trainsets, and $640 million to install high-speed features on components of the right-of-way, such as interlockings, signals, and ballasted and/or movable bridges. In addition, according to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), to minimize the impact of the new high-speed service on commuter and freight railroads, Amtrak will need to invest about $600 million after 1999 to improve the capacity of the right-of-way by constructing additional track and/or sidings. It will also need another $1 billion after 1999 to replace and/or rehabilitate aging components of the right-of-way, such as bridges, tunnels, track, and facilities. Amtrak now estimates that it needs at least $2.5 billion to rehabilitate the south end of the corridor, which has been used for high-speed operations since 1983. The infrastructure on this portion of the corridor has deteriorated; major capital needs include replacing the electric traction system, installing concrete ties and replacing and/or installing continuous welded rail, replacing worn and outdated interlockings, replacing bridges, and replacing highly specialized maintenance-of-way equipment. Amtrak has allocated $115 million of its $200 million NECIP appropriation for fiscal year 1995 toward meeting these needs. Section 1 of this briefing report provides more detailed information on the ownership and usage of the Northeast Corridor. Section 2 provides information on the status and funding needs of the NECIP (to implement high-speed service) and information on the capital investment needed to return the corridor to a state of good repair. -------------------- \1 Since 1976, Amtrak has received a separate appropriation, in addition to an appropriation for general capital projects, for this project. \2 This percentage includes the Amtrak-owned "nonspine" segments of the corridor from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and from New Haven, Connecticut, to Springfield, Massachusetts. \3 An eighth railroad--not included in the 91 percent--operates over one bridge owned by Amtrak. ---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :0.1 We collected data and interviewed officials from Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Strategic Business Unit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor High-Speed Rail Improvement Project (NHRIP) Office in Old Saybrook, Connecticut; FRA; and the Federal Transit Administration. We also interviewed officials of the following commuter and freight railroad users of the Northeast Corridor: the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT), Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York (MTA), Metro North Commuter Railroad (Metro North), Long Island Railroad (LIRR), Port Authority Trans Hudson Corporation (PATH), New Jersey Transit (NJT), Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC). We performed our work between October 1994 and April 1995 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. We discussed a draft of this briefing report with officials in Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Strategic Business Unit, including the Chief Executive Officer, Vice President of Finance, and Chief Engineer. We also discussed the report with the Chief of FRA's Passenger Service Division. These officials generally concurred with the information presented in the briefing report but provided revised data on the number of track and route miles owned by Amtrak and other commuter railroads, as well as on the number of trains operated over the corridor's right-of-way. We revised the report to respond to their comments as appropriate. We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator of FRA, and the President of Amtrak. We will make copies available to others on request. Please contact me at (202) 512-2834 if you or your staff have any questions. Major contributors to this briefing report are listed in appendix I. Sincerely yours, Kenneth M. Mead Director, Transportation Issues BRIEFING SECTION 1 OWNERSHIP AND USAGE OF THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR ============================================================== Letter (See figure in printed edition.) Under Public Law 89-220, the Congress in 1965 authorized the Secretary of Commerce to contract for demonstrations to determine how high-speed ground transportation could contribute to making intercity transportation systems more efficient and economical. According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), these demonstrations occurred between New York City and Boston and between New York City and Washington, D.C., and led to the introduction of the first Metroliner service in the late 1960s. At that time, however, the rail industry was rapidly failing. Under the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, the Congress found that essential rail service in the northeast region of the United States was insolvent and that this problem could be resolved only with substantial federal action. The act provided for the identification of a rail service system and set goals such that, among other things, the system would be adequate to meet the needs of the northeast region and high-speed rail passenger service would be improved in the Northeast Corridor. This second goal was to be accomplished by transferring the Northeast Corridor rail properties owned by railroads then in bankruptcy (primarily the Penn Central Railroad) to Amtrak. The Congress more clearly defined Amtrak's role in the Northeast Corridor when it passed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (the 4R Act). As a result, Amtrak became the primary owner of the railroad rights-of-way in the Northeast Corridor. The act also created the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project (NECIP). NECIP's goal was to achieve regular high-speed passenger rail service on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts. The act authorized $2.5 billion in federal funding for this purpose. The responsibility for implementing NECIP initially rested with FRA, but the responsibility for managing the project was transferred to Amtrak in 1985. Definition of the Northeast Corridor (See figure in printed edition.) Although definitions of the Northeast Corridor vary, we have defined it for this briefing report as the main line rail right-of-way between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts,\4 that is owned and/or operated by Amtrak and others, as well as the branch lines from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and from New Haven, Connecticut, to Springfield, Massachusetts, that are owned by Amtrak. These are commonly referred to, respectively, as the "spine" and "nonspine" segments of the corridor. Under the 4R Act, as amended, these segments make up the passenger rail corridor to be improved under NECIP. The 4R Act mentions the route between New York City and Albany, New York. However, because Amtrak owns only 10.8 miles on this route and does not operate the right-of-way, we have not defined the Albany extension of the spine as part of the corridor in this report. Similarly, although the 4R Act was amended to include the branch line from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, this track is not owned by Amtrak and, as of April 1995, will have no Amtrak service. Since Amtrak's recent reorganization into strategic business units (SBU), the Northeast Corridor SBU manages all Amtrak service on the corridor and includes service from Washington, D.C., to Richmond, Virginia. We have not included the service operating south from Washington, D.C., in this report because the service (1) operates primarily in Virginia, which is not included in the 4R Act's definition of the Northeast Corridor; (2) uses only two facilities that are on the corridor (Union Station and the Ivy City maintenance facility in Washington, D.C.); and (3) operates primarily over freight-owned rights-of-way that will not be improved to meet the goals of NECIP. Amtrak and Commuter Rail Operations in the Corridor Us er of ri gh t- of Total - daily wa Route Route train y\ miles miles movement a From To owned operated s -- ---------------------- ---------------------- --------- -------- -------- Am Washington, DC Boston, MA 362 456 tr ak Philadelphia, PA Harrisburg, PA 104 104 New Haven, CT Springfield, MA 62 62 ================================================================================= To 528 622 149 ta l Am tr ak SE Wilmington, DE Trenton, NJ 0 56 PT A Philadelphia, PA Parkesburg, PA 0 44 ================================================================================= To 0 160 246 ta l SE PT A NJ Trenton, NJ New York, NY 0 58 T Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA\b 0 6 ================================================================================= To 0 64 242 ta l NJ T LI New York, NY Sunnyside, NY 0 4 560 RR MA Washington, DC Perryville, MD 0 76 86 RC Me New Rochelle, NY New Haven, CT 56\c 56 204 tr o No rt h SL New Haven, CT Old Saybrook, CT 0 33 28 E MB Providence, RI Boston, MA 38 44 212 TA ================================================================================= To 622 999 1,727 ta l --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \a The Port Authority Trans Hudson Corporation (PATH) operates over one Amtrak-owned bridge on the corridor but otherwise uses its own right-of-way. The PATH trains are not included in this table. \b New Jersey Transit (NJT) trains operating from Philadelphia to Atlantic City use about 6 miles of Amtrak's right-of-way in Philadelphia. The NJT trains in this service are included in this table. \c Metro North operates and maintains track owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York and the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Amtrak shares the Northeast Corridor with eight commuter railroads: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Shore Line East (SLE), Metro North Commuter Railroad (Metro North), Long Island Railroad (LIRR), Port Authority Trans Hudson Corporation (PATH), New Jersey Transit (NJT), Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC). While Amtrak operates trains on the entire length of the corridor, the commuter railroads operate only on limited segments, generally within their respective states. For example, LIRR operates over only 4 miles of Amtrak's right-of-way that lead into New York's Penn Station. However, this track is critical to LIRR because it operates more than 500 trains per day at this location. Also, although PATH uses only one bridge belonging to Amtrak, about 300 of its trains traverse this bridge, and without such access, they could not operate. In total, commuter railroads operate trains over 371 of the 622 route miles on the corridor. In addition, the Virginia Railway Express commuter railroad, which operates primarily in northern Virginia, uses Amtrak's Union Station and Ivy City facilities. As stated previously, however, we did not include this railroad's activities in this briefing report. (See figure in printed edition.) Amtrak is the primary owner of the Northeast Corridor and has responsibility for operating and maintaining it. Amtrak owns about 85 percent of the right-of-way on the corridor (528 out of 622 route miles), while three other entities---MBTA, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT), and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York (MTA)---own the remaining 15 percent.\5 (See figure in printed edition.) Note: Usage is calculated as a percentage of the total number of passenger trains operated in the corridor each day. This total includes nonspine operations, which could not easily be segregated from spine operations. Although Amtrak's trains operate over the entire length of the Northeast Corridor, they represent only 9 percent of the train movements that occur over the corridor's tracks each day. In contrast, the commuter railroads are responsible for more than 90 percent of the train movements that are scheduled each day, including nonrevenue train movements (e.g., between stations and yards).\6 However, the commuter railroads provide very localized service, limited to certain segments of the corridor. For example, between Trenton, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware, SEPTA operates 246 trains per day, while Amtrak operates only 104 trains per day.\7 (See figure in printed edition.) Amtrak physically operates most of the Northeast Corridor by providing dispatching services for trains as well as maintaining the track, roadbed, bridges, signals, fencing, and electric traction system (where installed) that make up the right-of-way. The commuter railroads pay Amtrak for the use of its tracks through negotiated trackage-rights agreements. In addition, the commuter railroads share responsibility for operating the right-of-way with Amtrak along certain segments of the corridor. At New York's Penn Station, responsibility for dispatching alternates semiannually between LIRR and Amtrak. LIRR maintains the track it uses and therefore does not pay Amtrak for operation and maintenance services. Also, Metro North operates and maintains the 56 miles of the corridor's right-of-way that it owns or leases from CDOT between New Rochelle, New York, and New Haven, Connecticut. Amtrak paid Metro North $5.3 million for the use of its tracks in fiscal year 1994. The only other portion of the corridor's spine that is not owned by Amtrak is the 38-mile segment from the Rhode Island-Massachusetts state line to Boston. Owned by MBTA, this segment is operated by Amtrak under a contract that includes the (1) operation of MBTA's commuter trains, (2) operation and maintenance of the track, and (3) cost of Amtrak's trains using the track. In addition, the commuter railroads or their associated states fund capital improvements on their segments of the right-of-way that will benefit both themselves and Amtrak. For example, the state of Connecticut will spend about $250 million to upgrade the catenary\8 between the New York state line and New Haven, Connecticut. (See figure in printed edition.) In addition to the commuter railroads, four freight railroads operated trains in fiscal year 1994 over segments of the Northeast Corridor owned by Amtrak: Conrail, Providence and Worcester, Springfield Terminal Railway Company, and Delaware and Hudson. These railroads paid Amtrak over $17 million for the use of its tracks. BRIEFING SECTION 2