Amtrak's Northeast Corridor

The Northeast Corridor--stretching 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 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.

GAO found that: (1) Amtrak owns about 85 percent of the Northeast Corridor and three state commuter rail authorities own the remaining portion of the corridor; (2) seven commuter railroads operate about 91 percent of the passenger trains that use the corridor annually; (3) although Amtrak is a relatively small user of the corridor it is the only carrier that uses the corridor in its entirety; (4) Amtrak plans to invest about $1.6 billion in the corridor by 1999, including $360 million for track electification, $600 million to purchase and maintain high-speed trainsets, and $640 million to install high speed components on the right-of-way; (5) Amtrak will need to invest another $1.6 billion in the corridor after 1999 to minimize the impact of new high speed service on commercial and freight railroads; (6) Amtrak needs about $2.5 billion to replace aging components on the south end of the corridor; and (7) Amtrak has allocated $115 million of its $200 million Northeast Corridor Improvement Project appropriation for fiscal year 1995 to meet its capital investment needs.