Only what it cost to upgrade the track and road crossings. The innovative work for the trains themselves was down at least 20 years ago. The new line is just the latest expansion of a system that has been in place for a long time.
I simply don't understand why on nearly all of Amtrak's trains in the Northeast are slower than driving... for instance, it takes 8-10 hours to get to Montreal from Albany by train, but only 3.5 hours to drive. I'm on the NYC-Albany train right now, and that takes 2 hours, 20 minutes (slightly shorter than the drive).
In Europe the track has been upgraded......its seamless, there is double track, they have taken out the curves and there are no at grade crossings where cars cross the tracks. Hence, the trains can go much faster safely.
In the US, the fast trains we have are made in Sweden. They are especially made for tracks that have not been upgraded.....so the locomotive takes the curves better than a regular locomotive. However, because of the at grade crossings, the Amtrak fastest trains are only allowed to go 80 mph instead of full throttle because of safety considerations. When you take into consideration the stops it makes along the way, you can understand why they are considerably slower than a car even when that car hits heavy traffic.
In addition, the fast trains in Europe typically have the right of way. In the US freight trains have the right of way. That means an Amtrak train must stop and move to a sideyard and let a freight train go ahead if there is only a single track. If there are dual tracks, then the freight train can continue at top speed but the Amtrak train has to slow down for safety reasons.
Why is American track in such poor condition? For the past twenty years, Congress has starved Amtrak. There is a contingency within Congress [read the GOP] that believes all mass transit should pay its own way........well, at least trains should pay their own way. Thus the US has the weakest train system of any of the developed nations. |
