Northeast Corridor Realignment Webtool
Here is an interactive webtool for the Northeast Corridor alignment options we’re timetabling. All credit for the data visualization goes to Devin Wilkins; my contribution is to draw the options in a more static format.
There are still some tweaks to the system, but the physical location of the tracks should be considered secure, and the same is true of the curve database. The units are mixed; curves use the formula 1° = 1,746 meter radius, and speeds are in metric units, with lateral acceleration in the horizontal plane of 2.2 m/s^2 (330 mm total equivalent cant) at low and medium speed and 2.07 at high speed (310), both of which are limit values but do exist in this part of the world and are a rounding error away from American limit values. If there is any discrepancy between the listed speed and the curve radius, the curve radius is correct, and corresponds to the correct speed in our timetable spreadsheets.
Deviations from the current alignment are marked with yellow triangles. The bigger ones are presented as alternatives: it’s possible to build the deviation or stay on the present course. This is especially notable in Connecticut, with many build-or-no-build choices for New Haven Line bypasses as well as for the longer New Haven-Kingston bypass; at one place, Milford, there are two build options, a bypass along I-95 and a straightening of the route close to its current alignment.
I believe but am not completely certain the choice alignment we’ll present will include the bypasses east of New Haven but few to none west of it, of which the likeliest is the one in Greenwich and Cos Cob, where the bypass would provide a six-track section where there are three speed classes (commuter local, commuter express, intercity). South of New York, the curve easement in Metuchen is not currently part of our timetables – it’s too much property acquisition for too little speed gain – but the deviations in Frankford Junction and northeast Maryland are, and the Douglass Tunnel in Baltimore is already funded and in the design phase before physical construction.
Pedestrian Observations 
How would proposed changes to Amtrak NEC affect SEPTA regional rail operations which are currently literally intertwined with it?
Very little – there is just about no express SEPTA service on the Trenton and Wilmington Lines, so the only track sharing is around Wilmington and even that’s limited.
Should the swampoodle connection be revived as part of the Northeast Corridor realignment?
It can but it doesn’t have to be; it would need rail-on-rail grade separation either way but that’s not that difficult in that environment.
Having the northbound Chestnut Hill West trains crossover tracks is a scheduling headache. They can figure out what to do in 2085 when it becomes a problem. One solution is to have the subway “recapture” a line or two.
To be fair the French appear to struggle with slightly complicated track crossings etc, so if the US doesn’t know how they would have to learn from us I think.
And while obviously the terrorist attacks on the TGV network today were bad it is disappointing they don’t appear to have been able to run extra trains on the classic network instead. Certainly on the East Coast mainline in Britain they are pretty good at that sort of thing.
This is a brilliant visualization, thank you. It really illustrates the importance of the Connecticut bypass.
Is it possible to add some more data to the project triangles? I would like to see:
I think this would help people to self-direct advocacy.
We’re doing the writeup right now, but it will take weeks to complete. Part of it is that there are significant cost items outside the triangles, like constant-tension catenary and track renewal.
Excellent visualization, but can you ask Devin to make the clickable width of the lines larger? On Firefox they seem to be only one pixel thick.