Recent failures on the Northeast Corridor stress the importance of continued federal investments in transportation infrastructure. Unfortunately, a proposal by the House Appropriations Committee threatens to cancel badly needed improvements.
Three times over the past three days, rail riders on the NEC suffered painful trip delays after key infrastructure failed. On Tuesday, an electrical substation in New Jersey caught fire in the early morning. All Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT service on the line was suspended for several hours during the morning rush hour, disrupting the commute of over 70,000 riders. On Thursday, an electrical malfunction occurred twice between New York City and Philadelphia. Low voltage along over-head wires forced Amtrak, NJ TRANSIT, and SEPTA to cancel all service during the morning peak and again during the evening rush hour. Amtrak has not yet announced the source of the problem, but a substation as far south as Virginia is being investigated as the culprit.
Current projects by Amtrak and the northeast states could prevent these infrastructure failures in the future. In May 2011, the FRA awarded the Northeast almost $1 billion in funding from the High Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program to pursue a series of rail projects along the Northeast Corridor and its branch lines. As part of this funding, Amtrak received $450 million to complete improvements on the mainline Corridor between Philadelphia and New York City. This project includes improvements to the outdated and unreliable electrical power systems, including the substation that failed on Tuesday morning.
Unfortunately, recent developments in Congress threaten to cancel this critical project, all others along the NEC, and many others around the country. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment to rescind all unspent HSIPR Program funding. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ, 11th District) made the amendment to the FY 2012 Energy and Water Funding Bill, which would offset emergency relief funding to the Army Corps of Engineers for flood damage mitigation and prevention along the Mississippi River using the HSIPR funds.
Frelinghuysen's amendment is unusual. Congress is not usually required to offset emergency relief funding by cutting other government programs. Furthermore, his amendment threatens projects that would benefit his own constituents in New Jersey.
If passed into law, the proposed rescission would directly impact critical projects on the Northeast Corridor and many others. Although the most recent round of grants were awarded in May, these funds are not yet obligated to the grant recipients. As a result, all of the projects awarded in May 2011 are vulnerable to cancelation - including those on the NEC, along with any other unspent grants awards from prior rounds. Without these investments, the NEC will remain susceptible to the kind of debilitating failures that frequently disrupt the lives of citizens and cause unnecessary damage to the regional economy.
We encourage you to contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives to support the blocking of this rescission of HSIPR funding AND for increasing appropriations for HSIPR in FY 2012. Since this rescission was only passed by the Appropriations Committee, it must also be approved by the full House and the Senate before becoming law. Right now, vocal support for the HSIPR program can reverse this rescission and advance federal investments in intercity rail in FY 2012.
