amtrak and northeast corridor overview joe mchugh government affairs and corporate communications
Post on 02-Jan-2016
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Amtrak and Northeast
CorridorOverview
Joe McHughGovernment Affairs and
Corporate Communications
2
The political context• The big challenge for all of us is still capital
adequacy• Stimulus helped, but…
– “One and done”– Became to some extent politicized
• Congress has not been able to deal with the two big issues that affect all transportation modes:– Funding levels– Allocation questions
• In the current environment, it’s hard to have a meaningful discussion
• We expect the political environment to be tougher next year – not easier
We need to make infrastructure issues a political imperative – without makingthem political
3
Potential Committee Changes
T&IFull Committee:• Ranking Member Nick Rahall
(D-WV) is in a tough race• Rep. Petri (R-WV) is retiring• Rep. Daines (R-MT) is running
for Senate
Railroad Subcommittee:• Rep. Capito (R-WV) is running
for Senate• Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) is
retiring• Rep. Coble (R-NC) is retiring
T-HUD Appropriations
• Chairman Latham (R-IA) is retiring
• Ranking Member Pastor (D-AZ) is retiring
• Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) is retiring
• We will be getting a new T-HUD Chairman and Ranking Member and losing an Amtrak-friendly Republican
4
The Northeast Corridor
• 1 of out every 6 Americans
• 4 of the of the nation’s 10 largest metro areas
• $1 of every $5 in GDP• 2% of land area
80% of the region’s population lives within 25 miles of the NEC
New York
Philadelphia
Washington
Boston
5
Update on the NEC
• Where we’re at today:– NEC OTP about 77.2%– Ridership and revenues up over
FY 13 levels– Work in progress on earliest stage
of Gateway Project• NEC Commission
– Ongoing 212 process– NEC Future project (EIS)– Cataloguing of NEC investment
needs
Annualized need of $2.6B/ year greatly exceeds available funding levels
6
Weekday train density in New York and New
Jersey
Hudson River TunnelsPortal Bridge
Average of 450 trains per day on 2 tracks
Greatest train densities (train mile / track mile)in entire Amtrak system
7
New York during the morning rush hour
More than a quarter of a million people enterNew York City from New Jersey during this period
George Washington
Bridge
7 lanes6.2%
LincolnTunnel
6 lanes42.5
%
Amtrak/NJT 2
tracks
17%PATH 4
tracks
22.2%
Holland Tunnel
4 lanes
,7.6%
8
The Big Issue
• Two dominant issues:– OTP and capacity– Reliable funding
• Available funding alternatives help, but still fall short:– States– Private sector
The NEC is a classic Federal responsibility
9
Amtrak Continuing Resolution History: 1988-
present
FY 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01
CR X X X X X X X X X X X
No CR X X X
Days Late 83 0 52 36 28 6 27 0 46 0 27 21 9 23
FY 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13
Total/
Avg
CR X X X X X X X X X X X X 23
No CR 3
Days Late 79 143 115 69 61 138 87 161 76 192 48 176 66
Amtrak has operated on a CR in 23 of the last 26 years,and was formally authorized in only 11 of the last 20 years
10
The way ahead
• We need to look ahead about 2-3 year• The necessary changes and investments will only
happen if infrastructure is prioritized• There’s a bigger constituency for this than just
us:– “Patching” the trust fund has given other modes a taste
of the uncertainty Amtrak enjoys– We’ve earned a place at the table – and the concerns
we’ve always voiced are now general• We need integration of effort – a “commonwealth
of purpose” to make these changes
11
Gridlock at a glance
Source: TransportationWeekly
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