15 Ideas for Making Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Better

Early last year, the Federal Railroad Administration launched NEC FUTURES — an effort to plan out the passenger rail investments needed in the Northeast Corridor through 2040. This week it released a short list of ideas [PDF] for improving the region. FRA is calling these 15 ideas "Preliminary Alternatives," whittled down from a larger basket of about a hundred. The next step is an even smaller set of "Reasonable Alternatives," and by early 2015 the administration is expect to arrive at what it may well call a "Single Alternative," but what the rest of us will probably just call a decision.

NEC FUTURES is the latest attempt to prepare for growth in the country's most important rail corridor, following the $151 billion "vision" [PDF] for the Northeast that Amtrak released last summer. The FRA has (rather wisely) chosen not to subject itself to the political ridicule that surrounded Amtrak's price tag, but as a result it's a bit tough to evaluate the options set forth by the administration. Generally speaking, they range from limited capacity upgrades to an enhanced high-speed service — as well as a "no build" option that more or less maintains the status quo.