This post is the second in a series focused on examining the top investment needs of the Northeast Corridor. Our previous post introduced the $14 billion in Phase 1 Priority Investments necessary for improving the NEC over the next ten years. The post below takes a general look at the state of good repair needs on the NEC. Upcoming posts will look at specific infrastructure investments necessary to improve service and create new capacity.
>>The NEC faces a multi-billion dollar backlog in necessary repairs. Congress must make critical investments now to address system failures.
Maintaining transportation infrastructure is like taking care of your teeth. If you brush your teeth and floss every day, a trip to the dentist is but a mere cleaning. But, if you put brushing off, your teeth will form cavities that are painful and expensive to fill. Right now, the NEC doesn't just have cavities. It needs a root canal.
The passenger rail infrastructure in the Northeast is in serious disrepair. Having suffered decades of neglect and under-investment, the NEC system is aging and deteriorating, while increasingly forced to withstand the stress of rapidly growing ridership. The Northeast Corridor Master Plan (PDF) identified a backlog of billions of dollars in necessary repairs. Without these investments, the NEC will remain susceptible to system failures that disrupt the Northeast economy and will be unable to improve service to meet growing travel demand.
According to Amtrak's 2009 State of Good Repair Spending Plan (PDF), the tremendous maintenance and repair backlog includes:
• More than 200 bridges, most completed at the turn of the 20th century - before the introduction of the Model T
• Baltimore's B&P Tunnels dating to the post-Civil War period
• Numerous interlockings where tracks join and cross each other that are functionally obsolete and must replaced
• Electrical systems that provide power to trains but rely on components from the 1930s
• Locomotives and passenger cars that are 30-40 years old and frequently break down
How Did We Get Here?
The maintenance problems on the NEC started long before Amtrak. Although the national railroad corporation began operations on the NEC in 1971, it did not receive ownership of the NEC until 1976. By that time, the majority of the line was already in disrepair, thank to the line's previous owner, Penn Central. Struggling for its survival in the 1950s and 50s, Penn Central had chosen to defer maintenance in order to save money.
After Amtrak took control of the NEC, instead of providing it with the necessary funding, Congress demonstrated a long-standing pattern of unbalanced transportation spending, favoring roads and highways over rail and transit. Between 1970 and 2008, the Federal government invested a total $36 billion in the passenger rail systems around the country, including both operations and capital investments. In that same period, compare this to the $421 billion in federal subsidies given to the aviation industry and over a trillion dollars given to the national highway system.
In June 2011, Senator Frank Lautenberg criticized the Federal government's lopsided attention to roads. He said, "Last year, we spent more than $40 billion on highways. Over Amtrak's entire 40-year history, we've spent just under $38 billion total. That's worth repeating: Amtrak has received less federal money in its history than highways get in a single year."
While Congress has passed legislation on multiple occasions requiring that improvements be made, these initiatives have not been properly funded. In 1976, for example, Congress launched the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project. Despite lofty goals for improving infrastructure and reducing trip times, Congress did not provide the funding necessary to make the improvements. According to a GAO report in 1980, limited funding forced planners to dramatically scale back the scope of the project. This story repeated itself in the 1990s, when Congress approved the implementation of the Acela, but did not fund the capital projects that were needed to achieve the goals it established for travel time on the NEC.
With limited capital support from Congress, Amtrak has consistently been forced to defer maintenance and replacement of infrastructure. As a result, many pieces of the NEC continue to operate well beyond the end of their expected life, even as ridership and train traffic continues to grow.
Why We Need a State of Good Repair
The NEC remains a crucial component of the Northeast's transportation system. Over the past ten years, intercity ridership on the Corridor increased from 8.2 million passengers in 2000 to 13 million passengers in 2010. A long-term disruption on the NEC, caused by our chronic failure to repair our aging infrastructure, would cripple the Northeast. If even a fraction of the Corridor's daily ridership of 750,000 riders were suddenly thrust on to our highways and into our airports, the whole system would be brought to a stand-still, sending shockwaves through our regional and national economy.
Already, we see the consequences of under-investment. Aging infrastructure is evident at virtually every part of the line - even at the busiest and most economically vibrant parts of the Northeast. For example, to reach New York Penn Station, the nation's busiest rail station, passengers must travel through rail tunnels under the Hudson and East Rivers that were completed in 1910. Over a century old, these six tunnels accommodate more than 1,200 train movements a day.
Poorly maintained infrastructure is unreliable. Between New York and Washington DC, major electrical components date from the late 1930s and routinely fail. In fact, in June, the electrical system on the line between NYC and Philadelphia failed twice in a single day. Older infrastructure also reduces speed, which limits capacity. In Baltimore, passenger operations rely on tunnels that were completed in 1873, and their obsolete design restricts speeds to 30 mph. And such restrictions can be found along the entire NEC.
The poor state along the Corridor delivers a strong blow to the Northeast economy. In the most recent month recorded (May 2011), 10% of all travel time along the Northeast Corridor was a delay caused by such things as poor infrastructure, engine failures, conflicts among trains, or passenger-related holds. On average, each rider on the NEC experiences a delay of 7 minutes. For the 13 million annual riders, this results in an estimated $28 million in lost productivity.
Looking Ahead
While a state of good repair can alleviate the problems we have now, it is also an essential foundation for the future growth and expansion of the corridor.
Unfortunately, the current funding pattern for the NEC will be inadequate to pursue a state of good repair. Current annual appropriations are too low to make the scale of investments called for by the Phase 1 Priority Investments. In fact, the House recently proposed lowering Amtrak's appropriation by 25% below its current levels. What's more, the uncertainty of the annual appropriations process undermines Amtrak's ability to make long-term investments. Many larger projects will need several years of planning, engineering and construction. Amtrak cannot pursue these projects without more certainty about its future funding levels.
The reality is that we must make major investments in maintenance now. As we put this work off, necessary repairs will only become more expensive over time. As ridership continues to grow, the system will be increasingly susceptible to failure. And while we can perform targeted work right now, like taking a single track out of service, our growing backlog may eventually require that we stop service altogether for repair. At that point, instead of needing a root canal - we'll need dentures.
Images
NEC at Westchester Avenue, Bronx, NY. John H. Gray. Flickr.
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