Northeast Corridor

View Larger Map

Vital Statistics:
Total mileage = 457
Total annual passengers = 259,539,000
Total annual passenger miles = 4,990,390,000
Average daily passenger trains = 2,272
Average daily freight trains = 50

Ownership:
Amtrak = 363 miles
Connecticut = 46 miles
Massachusetts = 38 miles
Metro-North Railroad = 10 miles

Source: Northeast Corridor Infrastructure Master Plan (PDF)

The Northeast Corridor was originally built by the Pennsylvania and New Haven Railroads between 1850 and 1917. Following the bankruptcy of Penn Central -- the dominant railroad in the Northeastern United States -- the federal government assumed control of assets and intercity passenger service operations in the early 1970s under a hybrid public-private entity, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak. Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971.

Today, the Northeast rail corridor remains one of the region's most valuable assets. Over 750,000 commuter and intercity passengers depend on it every day. However, because of insufficient funding to maintain this critical resource, there is currently a backlog of $8 billion to bring the corridor to a state of good repair. Despite major investments in the corridor though the NEC Improvement Project in the late 1970s and early 1980s and again in the 1990s with the electrification of the northern end of the corridor, there has never been the sustained funding commitment necessary to bring the infrastructure to a state of good repair and improve trip times between the major metropolitan areas in the Northeast.

Stakeholders along the corridor have recently completed the first planning process for the corridor in more than a decade. The Northeast Corridor Infrastructure Master Plan is the culmination of more than two years of coordination between Amtrak, the eight commuter rail operators, the freight operators, and the Northeastern States. It proposes a series of incremental improvements to the corridor to bring the corridor to a state of good repair, and modest improvement in trip times and capacity.