Penndesign 2012 studio report Station, new rail tunnels under Long Island Sound, the New Haven-Springfield Line through Hartford, and a combination of highway and railroad ROW to Boston. The Penn studio proposal also includes the full cost of bringing the existing NEC to a state of good repair. The proposed system would be one of the world’s fastest, sprinting between the major cities of the Northeast Megaregion at an average speed of over 150 miles per hour.6 Travel time from New York to Boston would be reduced to 1 hour 45 minutes, while travel time from New York to Washington, DC would drop to 1 hour 30 minutes. It would allow for frequencies of up to four high-speed trains per hour along the entire Corridor, while today’s NEC can only handle one Acela and one Northeast Regional train per hour. Service between New York and Philadelphia, today’s highestridership market, would increase from one Acela, one Northeast Regional, and one Keystone per hour to five high-speed trains, one Keystone express, one Keystone local, and at least two to four Northeast Regional and inter-city commuter trains per hour. It would also provide Philadelphia’s Market East station with a direct high-speed connection to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), and New York’s Moynihan Station with a direct high-speed connection to Newark-Liberty International Airport (EWR). The 2010 and 2011 Penn Studio reports estimate the cost of this project, including the two dedicated tracks, all structures and tunnels, station improvements, rolling stock, environmental mitigation, and state of good repair, at between $100 and $103 billion. The 2010 report found that for every dollar spent on this project, $1.70 in benefits will be created.7
For more information on the alignment and cost breakdowns, see Appendix A as well as the 2010 and 2011 Penn studio reports.
Phase 1
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The 2012 Penn studio team recommends a phasing strategy that will deliver world-class high-speed rail to the most congested portion of the megaregion by 2025. Phase 1 will bring the Philadelphia to New York main line to a state of good repair while simultaneously building an Early Action high-speed rail capacity expansion along the segment, at an estimated $33.5 billion. Phase 1 also includes an additional $10 billion of improvements that will increase capacity and reliability along sections of the NEC beyond the Philadelphia to New York segment. For a full lineitem list of improvements, see Appendix A. This first phase will not only bring true high-speed rail service to the two largest cities on the East Coast, but will also reduce overall travel times