Америка Құрама Штаттарының Солтүстік-Шығыс дәлізінің электрленген темір жолы

Electrified railroad line in the Northeastern U. S.
the Amtrak main line

The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D. C. in the south, with major stops in Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length. Carrying more than 2,200 trains a day, it is (as of 2005) the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and by service frequency. The corridor is used by many Amtrak trains, including the high speed Acela (formerly Acela Express), intercity trains, and several long distance trains. Most of the corridor also has frequent commuter rail service, operated by the MBTA, CT Rail, Metro North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, SEPTA, and MARC. While large through freights have not run on the NEC since the early 1980s, some sections still carry smaller local freights operated by CSX, Norfolk Southern, CSAO, Providence and Worcester, New York and Atlantic, and Canadian Pacific. CSX and NS partly own their routes. Amtrak services that use the Northeast Corridor include the Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Keystone Service, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Vermonter trains, which reach ; and its Acela trains, which reach on a few sections in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. They also include some express trains operated by MARC that reach Acela covers the 225 mile (362 km) between New York and Washington, D. C., in under three hours, and the 229 mile (369 km) between New York and Boston in under 3.5 hours. Amtrak's proposals for improvements to enable "true" high speed rail on the corridor would roughly halve travel times at an estimated cost of $151 billion.

Most of what is now called the Northeast Corridor was built, piece by piece, by several railroads, from the 1830s. Before 1900, their routes had been consolidated as two long and unconnected stretches, each a part of a major railroad. Anchored in Washington, D. C., the stretch owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad approached New York City from the south; anchored at Boston, the stretch owned by the New Haven Railroad entered New York State from Connecticut. The former terminated at New Jersey ferry slips across the Hudson River from Manhattan Island. The latter extended to the Bronx, whence it continued into Manhattan via trackage rights on the New York and Harlem Railroad. It also reached the Bronx via the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad, which extended to the Bronx from the New Haven at New Rochelle. From 1903 to 1917, the two railroads undertook a number of projects that connected their lines and completed, in effect, the Northeast Corridor. These included the New York Tunnel Extension, which extended from New Jersey to Long Island (and was composed of the Manhattan Transfer station, the North River Tunnels, a new Pennsylvania Station, and the East River Tunnels); the New York Connecting Railroad; and the Hell Gate Bridge. Combined, these creations were a stretch that started just above Newark, New Jersey, on the Pennsylvania Railroad side, and connected with the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad (and thus New Rochelle) on the New Haven side. With the opening of the Hell Gate Bridge in 1917, this connecting stretch and thus the Northeast Corridor itself were complete. With the 1968 creation of Penn Central, which was a combination of those two railroads and the New York Central Railroad, the entire corridor was under the control of a single entity for the first time. After successor Penn Central’s 1970 bankruptcy, the corridor was almost entirely subsumed, on May 1, 1971, by the subsequently created Amtrak.

Boston–Providence: Boston and Providence Railroad opened 1835, partially realigned in 1847 and in 1899. Became part of the Old Colony Railroad in 1888. Providence–Stonington: New York, Providence and Boston Railroad opened 1837; partially realigned 1848. Stonington–New Haven: New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad opened 1852–1889, realigned in New Haven, 1894. New Haven–New Rochelle: New York and New Haven Railroad opened 1849. New Rochelle–Port Morris (Bronx): Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad opened 1873.

Newark–Trenton: United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company opened 1834–1839, 1841; partially realigned 1863 and 1870. Trenton–Frankford Junction: Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad opened 1834; partially realigned 1911. Frankford Junction–Zoo Tower: Connecting Railway opened 1867. Zoo Tower–Grays Ferry Bridge: Junction Railroad opened 1863–1866. Grays Ferry–Bayview: Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad opened 1837–1838, 1866, 1906. Bayview Yard–Baltimore Union Station: Union Railroad opened 1873. Baltimore Union Station–Landover: Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road opened 1872. Landover–Washington, D. C.: Magruder Branch opened 1907

In the 1930s, PRR equipped the New York–Washington line with Pulse code cab signaling. Between 1998 and 2003, this system was overlaid with an Alstom Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES), using track mounted transponders similar to the Balises of the modern European Train Control System. The ACSES will enable Amtrak to implement positive train control to comply with the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

In December 1967, the UAC TurboTrain set a speed record for a production train: between New Brunswick and Trenton, New Jersey. In February 1968, PRR merged with its rival New York Central Railroad to form the Penn Central (PC). Penn Central was required to absorb the New Haven in 1969 as a condition of the merger. On September 21, 1970, all New York–Boston trains except the Turboservice were rerouted into Penn Station from Grand Central; the Turboservice moved on February 1, 1971, for cross platform transfers to the Metroliners. In 1971, Amtrak began operations, and various state governments took control of portions of the NEC for their commuter transportation authorities. In January, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts bought the Attleboro/Stoughton Line in Massachusetts, later operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The same month, the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority bought, and Connecticut leased, from Penn Central their sections of the New Haven Line, between Woodlawn, New York, and New Haven, Connecticut. In February 1975, the Preliminary System Plan for Conrail proposed to stop running freight trains on the NEC between Groton, Connecticut, and Hillsgrove, Rhode Island, but this clause was rejected the following month by the U. S. Railway Association. By April 1976, Amtrak owned the entire NEC except Boston to the RI state line, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and New Haven to New Rochelle, New York, which is owned by the States of Connecticut and New York. Amtrak still operates and maintains the portion in Massachusetts, but the line from New Haven to New Rochelle, New York, is operated by the Metro North Railroad, which has hindered the establishment of high speed service.

In 1976, Congress authorized an overhaul of the system between Washington and Boston. These goals were not met because of the low level of funding provided by the Reagan Administration and Congress in the 1980s. Electrification between New Haven and Boston was to be included in the 1976 Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act. The last grade crossings between New York and Washington were closed about 1985; eleven grade crossings remain in Connecticut.

In the 1990s, Amtrak upgraded the NEC north of New Haven, CT to get it ready for the high speed Acela Express trains. In 1996, Amtrak began installing electrification gear along the 157 mile (253 km) of track between New Haven and Boston. The infrastructure included a new overhead catenary wire made of high strength silver bearing copper, specified by Amtrak and later patented by Phelps Dodge Specialty Copper Products of Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Service with electric locomotives between New Haven and Boston began on January 31, 2000. The project took four years and cost close to $2.3 billion: $1.3 billion for the infrastructure improvements and close to $1 billion for both the new Acela Express trainsets and the Bombardier–Alstom HHP 8 locomotives. On December 11, 2000, Amtrak began operating its higher speed Acela Express service. Fastest travel time by Acela is three and a half hours between Boston and New York, and two hours forty five minutes between New York and Washington, D. C.

In 2005, there was talk in Congress of splitting the Northeast Corridor, which was opposed by then acting Amtrak president David Gunn. The plan, supported by the Bush administration, would "turn over the Northeast Corridor – the tracks from Washington to Boston that are the railroad's main physical asset – to a federal state consortium." With the passage of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, the Congress established the Northeast Corridor Commission (NEC Commission) in the U. S. Department of Transportation to facilitate mutual cooperation and planning and to advise Congress on Corridor rail and development policy. The commission members include USDOT, Amtrak and the Northeast Corridor states. In August 2011 the United States Department of Transportation committed $450 million to a six year project to support capacity increases on one of the busiest segments on the NEC: a 24 mile (39 km) section between New Brunswick and Trenton, passing through Princeton Junction. The Next Generation High Speed project is designed to upgrade electrical power, signal systems and overhead catenary wires to improve reliability and increase speeds up to , and, after the purchase of new equipment, up to In September 2012, speed tests were conducted using Acela trainsets, achieving a speed of The improvements were scheduled to be completed in 2016, but, due to delays, the project had not been completed until 2020.

Eleven minutes after leaving 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on May 12, 2015, a year old ACS 64 locomotive (#601) and all seven Amfleet I coaches of Amtrak's northbound Northeast Regional (TR#188) derailed at 9:21pm at Frankford Junction in the Port Richmond section of the city, while entering a speed limited (but at the time non ATC protected) 4° curve at , killing eight and injuring more than 200 (eight critically) of the 238 passengers and five crew on board as well as causing the suspension of all Philadelphia–New York NEC service for six days. This was the deadliest crash on the Northeast Corridor since 16 died when Amtrak's Washington–Boston Colonial (TR#94) rear ended three stationary Conrail locomotives at near Baltimore on January 4, 1987. Frankford Junction curve was the site of a previous fatal accident on September 6, 1943, when an extra section of the PRR's Washington to New York Congressional Limited derailed there, killing 79 and injuring 117 of the 541 on board.

The NEC is a cooperative venture between Amtrak and various state agencies. Amtrak owns the track between Washington and New Rochelle, New York, a northern suburb of New York City. The segment from New Rochelle to New Haven is owned by the states of New York and Connecticut; Metro North Railroad commuter trains operate there. Amtrak owns the tracks north of New Haven to the border between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The final segment from the border north to Boston is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

At just over 453 mile (729 km), the Northeast Corridor is the longest electrified rail corridor in the United States. Most electrified railways in the country are for rapid transit or commuter rail use; the Keystone Corridor is the only other electrified intercity mainline. Currently, the corridor uses three catenary systems. From Washington, D. C., to Sunnyside Yard (just east of New York Penn Station), Amtrak's 25 Hz traction power system (originally built by the Pennsylvania Railroad) supplies 12 kV at 25 Hz. From Sunnyside to Mill River (just east of New Haven station), the former New Haven Railroad's system, since modified by Metro North, supplies 12.5 kV at 60 Hz. From Mill River to Boston, the much newer 60 Hz traction power system supplies 25 kV at 60 Hz. All of Amtrak's electric locomotives can switch between these systems. In addition to catenary, the East River Tunnels have 750 V DC third rail for Long Island Rail Road trains, and the North River Tunnels have third rail for emergency use only. In 2006, several high profile electric power failures delayed Amtrak and commuter trains on the Northeast Corridor up to five hours. Railroad officials blamed Amtrak's funding woes for the deterioration of the track and power supply system, which in places is almost a hundred years old. These problems have decreased in recent years after tracks and power systems were repaired and improved. In September 2013, one of two feeder lines supplying power to the New Haven Line failed, while the other feeder was disabled for service. The lack of electrical power disrupted trains on Amtrak and Metro North Railroad, which share the segment in New York State.

The entire Northeast Corridor has 11 grade crossings, all in southeastern New London County, Connecticut. The remaining grade crossings are along a part of the line that hugs the shore of Long Island Sound. Some of these crossings constitute the only points of access to waterfront communities and businesses otherwise disconnected from the road network. As such, eliminating them would require grade separation to maintain access. Six of the grade crossings have four quadrant gates with induction loop sensors, which allow vehicles stopped on the tracks to be detected in time for an oncoming train to stop. The remaining five grade crossings, 3 near New London Union Station and two in Stonington, have dual gates. FRA rules limit track speeds on the corridor to over conventional crossings and over crossings with four quadrant gates and vehicle detection tied into the signal system.

The New York to New Haven line has long been completely grade separated, and the last grade crossings between Washington and New York were eliminated in the 1980s. In 1994, during planning for electrification and high speed Acela Express service between New Haven and Boston, a law was passed requiring USDOT to plan for the elimination of all remaining crossings (unless impractical or unnecessary) by 1997. Some lightly used crossings were simply closed, while most were converted into bridges or underpasses. Only thirteen remained by 1999, of which lightly used crossings in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and Exeter, Rhode Island, were soon closed. Despite six nonfatal accidents in the previous sixteen years, there was substantial local opposition to closing the remaining 11 crossings. Outright closing the crossing would eliminate the sole access points to several of the places they served, while grade separation would be expensive and require land takings. It cost $1 million rather than the $4 million for a bridge. Seven more crossings received similar installations in 1999 and 2000; only the three in New London (which are on a tight curve with speed limits under ) did not. On September 28, 2005, a southbound Acela Express struck a car at Miner Lane in Waterford, Connecticut, the first such incident since the additional protections were implemented. The train was approaching the crossing at approximately when the car reportedly rolled under the lowered crossing gate arms too late for the sensor system to fully stop the train. The driver and one passenger were killed on impact; the other passenger died nine days later from injuries sustained in the crash. The gates were later inspected and declared to have been functioning properly at the time of the incident. The incident drew public criticism about the remaining grade crossings along the busy line.

Penn Line: Washington, D. C.–Perryville, Maryland, via Baltimore Penn Station

Freight trains operate on parts of the NEC through trackage rights. Prior to the 1970s when Amtrak took over all passenger service, the NEC routinely saw lengthy freight trains sometimes numbering over one hundred cars traversing great lengths of the corridor. All freight operations ultimately came under the control of Penn Central in the late 1960s and later Conrail upon its formation in 1976, however Amtrak, whose ridership was steadily increasing began demanding heavier taxes for longer trains. Ultimately Conrail began reducing freight service to only small, local trains on certain sections of the corridor where most needed once longer freights began causing congestion and bigger delays with passenger service. Currently, Norfolk Southern Railway operates over the line south of Philadelphia. CSX Transportation has rights from New York to New Haven; in Massachusetts; and in Maryland from Landover, where its Landover Subdivision joins the NEC, to Bowie, where its Pope's Creek Subdivision leaves it. Between Philadelphia and New York, Conrail operates as a local switching and terminal company for CSX and Norfolk Southern (see Conrail Shared Assets Operations). The Providence and Worcester Railroad operates local freight service from New Haven into Rhode Island and has overhead trackage rights from New Haven to New York (see Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island). Additionally, the Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the New York and Atlantic Railway both have trackage rights over the Hell Gate Bridge in order to connect with their own routes near New York.

In the 2010s, the Federal Railroad Administration drew up a master plan for developing the corridor through 2040, taking into account various projects and proposals by various agency and advocacy groups. The plan was completed in spring 2015. Many of these proposals are unfunded.

In October 2010, Amtrak released "A Vision for High Speed Rail on the Northeast Corridor," an aspirational proposal for dedicated high speed rail tracks between Washington, D. C., and Boston. Projected to cost about $117 billion (2010 dollars), the project would allow speeds of , reducing travel time from New York to Washington to 96 minutes (including a stop in Philadelphia) and from Boston to New York to 84 minutes, with an aspirational completion date of 2030 for travel from Washington to New York and 2040 for New York To Boston. In 2012, Amtrak revised its cost estimate to $151 billion. The proposed alignment would closely follow the existing NEC south of New York City; multiple potential alignments north of New York City were studied, including the existing shoreline route, a route through Hartford, Connecticut, and a route out along Long Island which would traverse a new bridge or tunnel across Long Island Sound to Connecticut. On July 12, 2017, the Federal Railroad Administration revealed the record of decision for the project. The proposed upgrades have not been funded.

In February 2011, Amtrak announced plans for the Gateway Project between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station. The planned project would create a high speed alignment across the New Jersey Meadowlands and under the Hudson River, including the replacement of the Portal Bridge, a bottleneck.

On August 26, 2016, Vice President Joe Biden announced a $2.45 billion federal loan package to pay for new Acela equipment, as well as upgrades to the NEC. The loans will finance 28 trainsets that will replace the existing fleet. The trains are being built by Alstom in Hornell and Rochester, New York. Passenger service using the new trains is expected to begin in 2024 and the current fleet was expected to be retired by the end of 2022, or when all the replacements have been delivered. Amtrak will pay off the loans from increased NEC passenger revenue.

In 2013, Japanese officials pitched the country's maglev train technology, the world's fastest, for the Northeast Corridor to regional U. S. politicians. The trains could travel from New York to Washington in an hour. Northeast Maglev, using SCMaglev technology developed by Central Japan Railway Company, is currently working with the FRA and MDOT to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. The project has received a $27.8 million grant from the FRA.

The North Atlantic Rail initiative, launched in 2017, has advocated building new high speed railroads providing speeds up to 225 mph (200 mph by different sources) in the northeast, where the densely populated core of New England is struggling with traffic and environmental overload. In long term plans, there is also proposal of building several lines branching out of Northeast corridor (which is bypassed by this proposal, cutting travel time), their maximum speed is yet unknown. Despite being the fastest railroad in the USA today, New York to Boston segment is planned to be replaced by even faster line.

In May 2011, a $294.7 million federal grant was awarded to fix congestion at Harold Interlocking, the USA's second busiest rail junction after Sunnyside Yard. The work will lay tracks to the New York Connecting Railroad right of way, allowing Amtrak trains arriving from or bound for New England to avoid NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road trains. Financing for the project was jeopardized in July 2011 by the House of Representatives, which voted to divert the funding to unrelated projects. The project was then funded by FRA and the MTA. as of 2018, the interlocking is being reconstructed for LIRR's East Side Access project.

In August 2011, Congress obligated $450 million to a six year project to add capacity on one of the busiest segments on the NEC in New Jersey. The improvements were scheduled to be completed in 2016, but have been delayed repeatedly. The track work is one of several projects planned for the "New Jersey Speedway" section of the NEC, which include a new station at North Brunswick, the Mid Line Loop (a flyover for reversing train direction), and the re construction of County Yard, to be done in coordination with NJ Transit. Acela trains began operating at speeds up to between Princeton Junction and New Brunswick in June 2022. With the planned introduction of the Avelia Liberty in 2024, speeds will increase to .

Amtrak has applied for $15 million for the environmental impact studies and preliminary engineering design to examine replacement options for the more than 100 year old, low level movable rail Pelham Bay Bridge (just west of Pelham Bridge) over the Hutchinson River in the Bronx that has been limiting speed and train capacity. The goal is for a new bridge to support expanded service and speeds up to .