#northeast corridor

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Metrosexual except that its being sexually attracted to the Metro North Railroad

(i downloaded TSW6 and a bunch of NEC routes and have been going crazy with the Harlem and New Haven lines, and i guess the Morristown line but i dont like that one as much)

[mario0ricca]

A Passagem do Nordeste - uma epopeia nórdica

A Passagem do Nordeste é a rota marítima ao longo da costa norte da Europa e da Ásia - costa ártica da Rússia - entre o Oceano Atlântico e

[sohannabarberaesque]

So picture Super Snooper and Blabbermouse relying on Amtrak's "next wave" to reach a client in exurbia:

(Or, come to think of it, Undercover Elephant and Loudmouse)

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

Suck-Up Sean Duffy Says Obama’s Trains Are Really Trump’s

Duffy is all aboard the Trump Train—even when it turns out they’re actually a Democrat’s.

The Acela NextGen that services the highly lucrative “Northeast Corridor”, Boston to DC.

[ourdramaqueen]

Take Action to Support Northeast Maglev

Support the future of American transportation and bring SCMAGLEV, the world’s fastest, safest, and most sustainable train technology, to the

Urge the U.S. Department of Transportation to support the Northeast Maglev project! The U.S. Department of Transportation is asking for public input, and this is our moment to speak up for the future of American transportation. The Northeast Maglev would bring the world’s fastest, safest, and most sustainable train technology, known as SCMAGLEV, to the Northeast Corridor. It would cut travel time from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore to just 15 minutes and open the door to a one-hour trip to New York. This project would slash traffic, reduce emissions, create tens of thousands of jobs, and position the United States as a leader in transportation innovation. But without strong public support, this vision could stall. That is why we need you to take action today. In less than a minute, you can send a letter directly to the U.S. Department of Transportation and key decision makers urging them to advance this transformative project. Your voice matters. Let us make it impossible for them to ignore the demand for clean, fast, and future-focused transportation in America.

More info about the project at northeastmaglev.com, but the gist is:

The Superconducting Maglev (SCMAGLEV) is the world’s fastest and most advanced train. A train in name only – unlike any train you’ve ever seen before. Imagine Washington DC to New York City in an hour. The SCMAGLEV will revolutionize travel in the Northeast Corridor.

[whisperthatruns]

My hands are open, I touch the window of this speeding train, my heart was torn open and now it's all window.

Rosanna Warren, from "Northeast Corridor," So Forth (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020)

[eltristanexplicitcontent]

186mph HSR Philadelphia to New York on the Northeast Corridor | HSR No Holds Barred

This is worth a watch.

[theaudreyhaus]

Transit Talk Thursday

Transit Talk Thursday: Okie dokie, this was not a thread I was intending on making, but unfortunately my hand was forced. Half as Interesting has always been to me the pinnacle of content mill garbage, but this has got to be the absolute pinnacle of content mill garbage with how it basically gets every single important detail wrong in some capacity. It's so bad that I couldn’t just stand here and watch from the audience. I had to get involved in some way, and this is the best way that I could think of. Let’s dissect this absolute travesty of a video together, and maybe we’ll learn a few things along the way.

First of all, the map he shows of the Northeast Corridor (first image) is inaccurate*. It highlights the Keystone Corridor, a portion of the Empire Corridor, and the Springfield Corridor. This I take a bit of issue of because most foamers agree that the Keystone Corridor from Philadelphia to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, the small snub of the Empire Corridor and the Springfield Corridor are considered separate corridors, but the Northeast Corridor Commission does consider those to be a part of the NEC, so this is fine, if not a tiny bit annoying. Though based on how it looks, it's likely Ben Doyle (the writer of the video) just took the map of the NEC and its adjacent corridors off of Wikipedia (second image) and used it in the video. This one is based off of a technicality so I can give Ben the benefit of the doubt this time. I wish I could do the same for the next ones though!

So the next thing I take issue with is the point about electrification systems. Sam says that the ex-PRR system running on 25Hz is apparently a problem because since it runs on a different frequency, it's impossible to upgrade without tearing it all down. So to explain this one, the Northeast Corridor has three separate electrification systems powering it. The first is the Southend Electrification (see above), running on 11kV 25Hz AC electrical power, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the one which has the problems. The next is the 12.5kV 60Hz AC system, which is a remnant of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. This one powers the NEC from New York Penn Station to New Haven Union Station. The last is the Northend Electrification, running on 25kV 60Hz AC power, which was done by Amtrak in the 1990s. The Pennsylvania Railroad built their system on 25Hz because it was a fairly prevalent system for industrial use, and this was before 60Hz became the standard for North America. With that being said, Sam's point about it being impossible to upgrade due to it requiring special equipment and infrastructure is just wrong. Amtrak has upgraded this system before (you'll see an example later), so the notion of it being a problem because its 25Hz while the other systems are 60Hz, and as a result, using special equipment is just wrong. Second of all, even if we’re coming from the perspective of “Oh but what about the trains you run on the system, that’s gotta be the real problem”, that’s…not a problem at all. Rolling stock that can work for all three electrical systems of the NEC are available and we still roster them even today, like Amtrak’s current ACS-64s. Ben even wrote that its impossible to tear it all down and start from scratch, so that's what Amtrak has decided not to do. Amtrak instead just works around it, and whaddya know, it works just fine.

Next thing is the detail Amtrak apparently absorbed PRR in 1975. This statement is what made me do this thread. It is the pinnacle of how Ben doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about when it comes to trains.

For the uninitiated, the Pennsylvania Railroad was not absorbed into Amtrak in 1975, because it didn’t even exist in 1975! What Ben got wrong here was Amtrak absorbed the passenger operations of Penn Central, the successor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, created from a merger of PRR, the New York Central, and the New Haven Railroad, while Conrail took over the freight side. The reason why Amtrak and Conrail even came to existence is because the Penn Central merger was so horrible it created one of the largest bankruptcies in United States history, and it forced the Nixon Administration to create Conrail and Amtrak to plug the gaping hole in the United States’ transportation network. Every single foamer worth their weight knows this story, to get this wrong in a video meant to "inform" (hard air quotes) people is an indication of extreme carelessness.

So the explanation of constant-tension catenary is “fine”, apart from how Sam didn’t say what it actually was by its correct name, but what I take issue with here is the lack of an explanation as to why the ex-PRR catenary is so bad, and why these issues haven’t been seen on other segments of the NEC.

So Alan Fisher has a great thread explaining why on his Twitter, but because not everyone has Twitter (good for you), I’ll explain it here as well.

The reason why Amtrak and New Jersey Transit were experiencing outages due to downed wires is because a majority of the ex-PRR wires are simply fixed into place on the catenary poles (see above). This is an issue because when the wire heats up, it sags, which makes it so a train’s pantograph can strike it and bring the wire down. By comparison, the section between New Haven, CT and Boston, MA done in the 90s (Known as the Northend Electrification, see below) has constant-tension catenary, which means the wire is kept tight with calibrated weights. This is good because it means no matter how much the wire expands, the weights can pull the wire tight. Unfortunately, a majority of the ex-PRR system lacks constant-tension, so whenever the temperature heats up (like it did in July), the wires will sag, and the chance for the system to be downed due to a wire being taken down is elevated.

Now the final thing I want to go over is Sam saying that Amtrak did get money to upgrade a section of the NEC between Trenton and New Brunswick, NJ, but they only did 7 miles of the section before “calling it a day”. First of all, the notion that Amtrak only did 7 miles of the Trenton - New Brunswick section is very wrong. Amtrak has an OIG report which details that the entire section has constant-tension now, which is why the Acela is able to hit a top speed of 150mph there. Second of all, Sam fails to mention the actual reason why they only did 7 miles at first. The actual reason why is because due to a clusterfuck regarding mismanagement of federal funds, there was only enough money to do 7 miles of the entire corridor. There’s an OIG report which mentions it here. Saying that they did just 7 miles and “called it a day” with no elaboration is indicative of, once again, extreme carelessness and laziness. But then again, I probably shouldn’t expect anything more from a content mill.

BONUS: If you're wondering why Amtrak did this 20 mile stretch first, its due to Amtrak anticipating their new Acela trainsets, coming sometime in Q4 of this year. [Source]

So, conclusion?

This video was insanely painful to watch for me. I have always disliked HAI for its writing style, but now the channel has decided to just publish blatant lies for their mindless subscribers to gobble up like vultures. This kind of stuff will keep happening so long as so many people are misinformed and uneducated about trains. But it doesn't have to be this way. This is why I'm making this post. Not because I want to cash in on some "Internet clout" or something stupid like that. Rather, I'm doing this to spread the truth, to counter this 8 minute package of lies put out by a channel which has much higher production values than what I could muster. I may not be able to edit well, voice scripts that well, make eye-catching motion graphics, or make interesting graphics. But what I am able to do is talk about trains and transit in an informative, educational, and most importantly, accurate way. And at the end of the day, that's all that I care about.