Amtrak infrastructure wish list includes Boston changes

Amtrak has laid out its wish list for an expansion under the proposed infrastructure bill — and it could include several changes for Boston including new routes and even possibly the long-discussed North-South Rail Link.

Amtrak, which is funded through a combination of public and private money, delightedly sent out a map this week of the changes it hopes to make if President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure package goes through. The package includes $80 million for rail, and the map would include a growth in the system over 15 years.

Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said in a statement that he’d want to focus the infrastructure bill funds on the Northeast Corridor, which is the organization’s primary service area. He said he’d look to bring the corridor, which stretches from Washington, D.C., up through Boston’s South Station, into a state of good repair.

“Amtrak must rebuild and improve the Northeast Corridor and our National Network and expand our service to more of America,” Flynn said. “The NEC’s many major tunnels and bridges — most of which are over a century old — must be replaced and upgraded to avoid devastating consequences for our transportation network and the country.”

But the map, which looks a bit into Amtrak’s aspirations in the longer term, shows new service to Albany and up into new Hampshire, and improved service to the Northeast Corridor up through what’s called the Downeaster Line, which runs from North Station up into Maine.

The map appears to show an uninterrupted line between the Northeast and Downeaster routes, which currently doesn’t exist. The lone gap along that whole stretch — Washington to Brunswick, Maine — exists in downtown Boston between North Station and South Station.

For years, a crew of advocates including former Govs. William Weld and Michael Dukakis have pushed for a “North-South Rail Link” tunnel deep under the city to connect those lines and the MBTA Commuter Rail routes north and south of town. The latest Massachusetts Department of Transportation study in 2018 pegged the cost at $9.5 billion.

Amtrak wouldn’t bite on whether the North-South Rail Link is in its plans.

A spokesman said, “In the coming weeks, Amtrak will present to Congress our reauthorization plan that will include expanding service in key city pairs that are not served well by passenger rail today.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2PPMy5g