Can America Build Another Northeast Corridor?

the Northeast Corridor is no doubt Amtrak's Best Line both in terms of frequency and profitability it runs through some of the United States's oldest and densest cities traveling from Washington DC through Baltimore Philadelphia New York and ending in Boston although ending in Washington and Boston multiple Services run past these cities connecting other regions to the corridor commuter rare also supplements local areas along the corridor such as the MBTA in Massachusetts and Rhode Island NJ Transit in New York and New Jersey and Mark in Maryland these commuter lines pair Amtrak's Regional long distance routes account for the corridor running upwards of 2 200 trains every day no rail line on the continent comes anywhere near the number of trains running on the Northeast Corridor these large and adjacent cities beg to have a rail Corridor linking them which is what several railroad companies did is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh hey Amtrak owns that now and even better it's actually profitable and since it was profitable Amtrak put money into the corridor leading the route to be almost on par with the rest of the developed World well real actually sucks and is outdated driving and flying are way faster ah wrong although it's true that flying is faster long distance shorter distance flying can often take longer than taking rail yes the flight itself can be quicker but getting to the airport two hours early getting yelled at by a TSA agent for 20 minutes going through security and then sitting in a waiting room for an hour adds way more time and hassle to Flying enough to make traveling by rail in many cases cheaper and quicker oh well then the Northeast uh must be the only part of the country that's crowded yeah the rest of the country is way too spread out for for Vero to be good wrong again despite what many seem to think America isn't as spread out as it seems tons of cities are close enough together to justify rail connection like the Northeast Corridor taking the train is the easiest most comfortable and most cost effective way of traveling short and medium distances and corridors themselves also take train travel to another level they not only allow high-speed trains to travel between large Metro areas but they also allow more local trains and services smaller communities in between there are many places Across America to build new corridors to rival the Northeast so with another investment in political support where can we build these new corridors great question luckily I made this video describing that exact question the first Corridor is on the west coast specifically in the Cascades region including Oregon Washington and British Columbia the drought would go from Vancouver and Canada to Eugene Oregon passing through Burnaby and Surrey and Canada Seattle and Tacoma and Washington and Portland and Salem in Oregon Amtrak already runs well mostly runs two Services through the region with the coast Starlight being a long distance train running from Seattle down to Eugene and further to La while the Cascades runs from Vancouver to Eugene acting Morris a regional service however both of these services are slow and infrequent turning off many potential users and first in the drive on the I-5 instead this area is a population over 9 million people and a GDP worth almost 700 billion dollars connecting the region of frequent local and Regional Rail including a high-speed link between the largest cities in the area would boost the economy of Cascadian and surrounding communities investing in Rail trains would also help the goals of the states aiming to reduce their carbon footprint which is important especially in a region as luscious and biodiverse as Cascadia the corridor is also a great way to further connect the United States and Canada through both the economy and its people existing Transit agencies would also benefit from increased ridership and can use the corridor to expand their services some systems already in place are Vancouver's transland the Seattle sound system and Portland's Mac system these existing systems in place would encourage use of the rail Corridor and vice versa the politics of this region also help in the political side of things with the region being one of the most Progressive areas in the United States and in Canada the progressive politics of the region would make the project much more likely to receive both political and financial support from both state and local governments I feel like out of this list this project is one of the best chances to gain support through the progressive politics that dominate this region building this Corridor can bring more opportunity and prosperity to an already prosperous region the next quarter I'll be talking about is right down south in Florida since the late 1940s Florida's population has been booming going from 2.7 million in 1950 to more than doubling to 4.9 million in 1960. this also happens to be the same time when little boxes that suspense cold air became commonplace turning the human hell hole into a livable one cities like Miami West Palm Beach Orlando and Tampa all exploded in growth driving Florida from being one of the least populated states to one of the largest the area has a population of around 13 million people and a GDP of 700 billion dollars wow what a great region to run a train service through right so that's our Amtrak oh wait that's that's what brightline did so instead of Amtrak or government agency running along this track a private company called brightline which is owned by the Florida East Coast Industries which is owned by Fortress Investment Group which is recently acquired by SoftBank which is a Japanese conglomerate um uh brightline is a private rail company owned by the Japanese which currently runs from Miami to West Palm Beach with the construction on a route to Orlando and later Tampa developing this line into a corridor might be difficult since governments will be much less likely to fund the development of a private company rather than a government-owned one limiting the potential of what brightline could do and I don't think brightline would share his trackage rights with anyone else like Amtrak however there is a chance that brightline would share its track of dread to agencies like Amtrak but they would likely do it at a much higher cost seeing the development and future of brightline is a crucial moment for American passenger rail if brightline does keep a profit 10 years down the road I believe there'd be other companies that would start to see the benefit and potential in passenger rail and start to carve up their own corridors private companies might want to build their own routes or even attempt to buy routes from other state-owned Transit agencies I think that private rail along with government-owned rail is a great step to revitalizing passenger rail in America however however I believe we should be cautious with privatization and all I think brightline is doing a good job so far well at least in Florida I don't believe that brightline wants to do very well I might make a video on that in the future I hope that brightline does well and works with government agencies to make this quarter a fast and frequent servicing the people of Florida going west is the fast-growing region of Central Texas the specific Corridor would go from Dallas to Fort Worth going through the Mid Cities and then down south along I-35 and hitting the cities of Waco Temple and Colleen Austin and ending in San Antonio this region of Texas is a population of over 11 million people and a GDP worth over 850 billion dollars despite being such a booming area of the country the only train service connecting these cities is Texas Eagle which only runs two to four trains a day this schedule is nothing compared to the potential this region could bring Amtrak especially since the only other viable option for traveling this route is I-35 which is the most congested Highway Corridor outside the major cities of New York LA and Chicago it's obvious that people are traveling between these cities and making I-35 the only viable way is causing increased maintenance costs more pollution and further car dependency in a region where car dependency is already extremely prominent funding a state route to accompany the Texas Eagle be a great start to increasing train service in the region buying and improving the freight track along this section would also make sure that trains would run faster more frequently for future Services there are a few issues with this Corridor however for starters once the train gets to the cities most stations currently look like this yeah not exactly what we want to see stepping off of the platform in order to fully capture the potential this route the cities along the corridor need to invest in the area around the stations building Transit orientated development and investing in their own Transit networks Austin for example is trying to expand its light rail network servicing the corridor to bring a boost to ridership for the trains running on the corridor and for Austin's light rail system it can also revive old plans for regional rails such as the l-star between San Antonio and Austin which was canceled building this Corridor being further incentive to build up the transit in the city's essential Texas where existing plans have either been shot down or massively scaled back with the highways that Central Texas struggling to keep up with demand of the fast growing region lawmakers and city planners need to find a new way of transporting people in and around the cities of Texas no not like that the next quarter is a little bit different from the others on this list all the other routes have a train either running or planning on running the route that I talk about however this Corridor has two separate systems not connected to one another running both Canada and United States respectively in Canada they're the Quebec City Windsor trains which are actually all these Services here and in America there's the Amtrak Wolverine which runs from Chicago to Pontiac connecting these two systems and integrating them into one would have a massive economic and societal impact in the Great Lakes region the corridor from Quebec City to Chicago is a population of over 34 million people and a GDP worth over 1.7 trillion dollars a massive potential for rail travel Canada is the only country in the G7 without High-Speed Rail well at least on paper so bring into an area where it just so happens that half the entire country lives would be a massive gain to Canadians the two countries are also each other's largest trading partners so connecting the two modern rail infrastructure would be a huge benefit for freight trains as well more freight trains means fewer trucks and highways leaving them less congested meaning less money spent on maintenance and faster commutes for those who drive just like the other projects on this list commuter rail can also take advantage of the corridor and gain from The increased ridership the corridor will bring agencies like Metro in the South Shoreline in Chicago Go Transit in Toronto and EXO and Montreal can all use these benefits to further improve their networks and bring in much needed profits and investment they'll mostly talk about Metro the whole project of connecting Quebec City to Chicago will be a massive undertaking and would cost billions of dollars both the governments of Canada and the United States along with local agencies and governments would need to extensively coordinate on such a massive undertaking but with such similarities in how both countries operate along with a great relationship that our two countries have I believe that not only this project will be possible but it would flourish it would prove that both countries can achieve a massive Endeavor if they work together and could entice them to work together on other projects not just related to Transportation building this Corridor to connect the already linked Nations even more bringing wealth trade people and ideas between the two Nations yes the cost to be immense but the value of the project would bring both when it's being constructed bring job opportunity and construction jobs and when it's completed bring long-term jobs and growth would pay itself back in no time and will bring a measurable prosperity to the communities the corridor would serve and finally here's the moment you've all been waiting for and might have guessed by now number one is the California High-Speed Rail that's right despite what this squirrel says I believe that the California high speed rail isn't just a waste of money so what is the California High-Speed Rail well the project started it with a vote in 2008 and a budget in 2009 allocating nine billion dollars and then a groundbreaking in 2015 in Fresno the first part of phase one which is swiftly coming to completion will connect to Central Valley Cities of Merced moderna Fresno and Bakersfield phase one will then be completed and connect the system further to San Francisco and then to the Los Angeles metro area phase two of the project will be separated into two parts extending the system to Sacramento in the North and then extending South to San Diego with a region of over 33 million people and a GDP worth over 2 trillion dollars it's a no-brainer that California wanted to build High-Speed Rail Corridor and when they voted on his budget the people agreed that they also wanted high speed rail however as most people know the project hasn't exactly been delivered as promised the people voted on a 45 billion dollar route from San Francisco to Los Angeles due to be completed in 2022 now the project is going to open around from a said to Bakersfield in 2029 and cost around 60 billion dollars not a great look for the first true High-Speed Rail in America I could go on and on about the reasons this project has taken so long and skyrocketed in cost which is a topic I might make a video on in the future but why the problems happen doesn't matter the most what matters is on the surface level it seems like a failed project that's eating away at the taxpayer money when we spend our tax dollars on something especially in America we want to see the benefit of the project almost immediately and this project has been anything but immediate despite what many may assume this project will get done and when it is completed it will bring more than enough benefit to justify its cost it will cut carbon emissions bring much needed economic revitalization to the Central Valley and revolutionize travel as a whole in America building line will reduce carbon emissions by getting cars off the road which will have the added effect of reducing congestions and maintenance costs on the interstates and highways it will bring the prosperity of the coastal cities and bring it to the often disadvantaged communities in California Central Valley bringing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment to the areas that need it most one of the largest benefits that I think most people Overlook is the experience that this project will bring the future construction of High-Speed Rail California High-Speed Rail is the first of its kind in the United States we haven't built a modern railroad line in decades let alone a world-class high-speed one the construction workers and Engineers gain experience building this High-Speed Rail and once you're done in California they'll bring a newly gained knowledge and use it to assist other potential routes in America agencies will learn from the mistakes in California and make the construction process faster and cheaper although many see this project as a pointless money dry now when it's finally completed we will see the immense impact it will have on transportation and the valuable asset that it will never be be for California and for the country as a whole ever since the first railroad was constructed in the United States it has been the backbone of our nation towns and cities were founded along these railroads spanning into the great unknown they connected vast regions previously thought to be separated an extensive and far-reaching railroad Network traversed the nation carrying people and cargo they connected small towns to large cities lavish farmlands to massive factories and sunny beaches and snowy mountains but in the last 70 years planners and politicians destroyed our backbone replacing rail with cars and trucks demolishing communities and poisoning our cities railroads especially passenger ones are a shell of the once a great system that we used to have and the ones that remain put direct profit over long-term value we need a change in the face of irreversible climate change we need to once again invest in the most efficient and clean way to move Goods in people investing rail May seems scary with this large price Tab and seemingly unprofitability but governments and companies need to realize that building rail is worth it railroads bring growth and development to the communities they connect the large price tag will pay itself off from the Boost in local economies and the opportunity it brings the people that live and work there it'll be a struggle many obstacles stand in the way of building world-class Transit network but with activism and electing the right people we can make a change we can give people an alternative to the car in the plane we can reduce our carbon footprint we can create thousands of jobs and reduce poverty building modern rail infrastructure specifically corridors will give people access to a frequent safe and clean way of travel thanks for watching everyone see you all soon [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: UrbanDox

Views: 34,392

Keywords: Northeast Corridor, Northeast, Corridor, Acela, Amtrak, Another Northeast Corridor, New corridor, another corridor, UrbanDox, Urbandox, urbandox, northeast corridor, HSR, High-speed Rail, high speed rail, American rail, build another northeast corridor, California hsr, California High Speed Rail, Windsor corridor, Windsor Corridor, Brightline, brightline, cascadian, via rail, amtrak, can we build another northeast corridor, us rail, us high speed rail, rail corridor, California rail

Id: Z6KtcnHXNKA

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 13 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/_snoopbob]

Californias 40 million people between 4-6 large-ish metros (if we include Silicon Valley and the inland empire as separate) in a line along the coast is essentially about as close of a comparison as you can hope to find to the 50 million people between 4-6 large metros in the northeast

Now just finish building the tracks past the tehachapis and watch the Central Valley boom in a couple of decades then watch everyone else join right after

[u/darth_-_maul]

Is YouTube just recommending that video to everyone today ?

[u/GalacticN0va]

Original creator of the video here, im glad you liked the video! Thanks for sharing it!