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Amtrak and Northeast Corridor Overview

Amtrak and Northeast Corridor Overview. Joe McHugh Government Affairs and Corporate Communications. The political context. The big challenge for all of us is still capital adequacy Stimulus helped, but… “One and done” Became to some extent politicized

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Amtrak and Northeast Corridor Overview

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  1. Amtrak and Northeast CorridorOverview Joe McHugh Government Affairs and Corporate Communications

  2. The political context • The big challenge for all of us is still capital adequacy • Stimulus helped, but… • “One and done” • Became to some extent politicized • Congress has not been able to deal with the two big issues that affect all transportation modes: • Funding levels • Allocation questions • In the current environment, it’s hard to have a meaningful discussion • We expect the political environment to be tougher next year – not easier We need to make infrastructure issues a political imperative – without making them political

  3. Potential Committee Changes T&I Full Committee: • Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV) is in a tough race • Rep. Petri (R-WV) is retiring • Rep. Daines (R-MT) is running for Senate Railroad Subcommittee: • Rep. Capito (R-WV) is running for Senate • Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) is retiring • Rep. Coble (R-NC) is retiring T-HUD Appropriations • Chairman Latham (R-IA) is retiring • Ranking Member Pastor (D-AZ) is retiring • Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) is retiring • We will be getting a new T-HUD Chairman and Ranking Member and losing an Amtrak-friendly Republican

  4. The Northeast Corridor • 1 of out every 6 Americans • 4 of the of the nation’s 10 largest metro areas • $1 of every $5 in GDP • 2% of land area Boston New York Philadelphia Washington 80% of the region’s population lives within 25 miles of the NEC

  5. Update on the NEC • Where we’re at today: • NEC OTP about 77.2% • Ridership and revenues up over FY 13 levels • Work in progress on earliest stage of Gateway Project • NEC Commission • Ongoing 212 process • NEC Future project (EIS) • Cataloguing of NEC investment needs Annualized need of $2.6B/ year greatly exceeds available funding levels

  6. Weekday train density in New York and New Jersey Hudson River Tunnels Portal Bridge Average of 450 trains per day on 2 tracks Greatest train densities (train mile / track mile) in entire Amtrak system

  7. New York during the morning rush hour George Washington Bridge 7 lanes 6.2% Lincoln Tunnel 6 lanes 42.5% Amtrak/ NJT 2 tracks 17% PATH 4 tracks 22.2% Holland Tunnel 4 lanes, 7.6% More than a quarter of a million people enter New York City from New Jersey during this period

  8. The Big Issue • Two dominant issues: • OTP and capacity • Reliable funding • Available funding alternatives help, but still fall short: • States • Private sector The NEC is a classic Federal responsibility

  9. Amtrak Continuing Resolution History: 1988-present Amtrak has operated on a CR in 23 of the last 26 years, and was formally authorized in only 11 of the last 20 years

  10. The way ahead • We need to look ahead about 2-3 year • The necessary changes and investments will only happen if infrastructure is prioritized • There’s a bigger constituency for this than just us: • “Patching” the trust fund has given other modes a taste of the uncertainty Amtrak enjoys • We’ve earned a place at the table – and the concerns we’ve always voiced are now general • We need integration of effort – a “commonwealth of purpose” to make these changes

  11. Gridlock at a glance Source: Transportation Weekly

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