Investing in the customer experience
Work continues to upgrade the infrastructure to increase track capacity, improve the ride quality and offer greater reliability that will benefit Acela and other Amtrak customers as well as commuter passengers along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) from Washington, D.C., to Boston.
Crews are upgrading 31 miles of track between Washington
Union and Baltimore Penn stations, which will enable Amtrak to operate at
higher speeds. The enhancements will benefit the full length of the Northeast Corridor
and include realigning track and curves and undercutting and installing new
rail.
Approximately 2,200 Amtrak, commuter and freight trains
operate on the Washington-Boston route each day. In Fiscal Year 2018, 18.3
million trips were made by Amtrak customers on the NEC.
“The NEC is North America’s a premier passenger rail
corridor and improving the infrastructure is essential to maximizing
performance for all train services,” President and CEO Richard Anderson said.
“The improvements will offer Amtrak and commuter customers a smoother and more
reliable ride.”
As the popularity of rail travel soars, Amtrak and its partners
are challenged to ensure the NEC can meet the demand for new capacity on this
critical infrastructure asset, portions of which date back a century, and
continue to deliver the safe, reliable and convenient service passengers expect
from America’s Railroad®.
The infrastructure work is underway in preparation for the
introduction of the new, next-generation Acela
Express fleet, scheduled to begin entering service in 2021.
Additionally, this project also complements other ongoing Amtrak
improvements at New York Penn Station; the opening of the new Moynihan
Train Hall in New York; and further development of stations in Chicago,
Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Visit Amtrak.com to learn more about the Future of Rail
and infrastructure
improvements.