• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Boston To NYC Shortcut? High-Speed Rail Plan Includes 16-Mile Underwater Tunnel

Wag

Wag

Member
Nov 3, 2017
11,638
boston-nyc-rail.jpg


BOSTON (CBS/AP) — President Joe Biden is promising to improve the nation's infrastructure and that is renewing interest in the idea of a high-speed railroad connecting Boston and New York.

The North Atlantic Rail plan, developed at the University of Pennsylvania, would run through a 16-mile tunnel under Long Island Sound. The trains would travel over 200 mph and the trip would take just an hour and a half – a reduction of nearly two hours from the current trip time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/02/12/high-speed-rail-biden-infrastructure-boston-nyc-train-tunnel/

The NE rail system is severely lacking. It's amazing to me they spent so much money on the Amtrack Acela line and they can't even run most of the trains at full speed because the tracks are falling apart. Always wanted to use the Acela but it doesn't take that much longer to drive from Boston to NYC, plus it's expensive.
 
kyle mechlachlan

kyle mechlachlan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,308
Would be nice to have a rail system that runs all along the East coast. Opening up people to be able to access areas to the south for the summer seems like a smart idea for tourism. Flying is fast but too expensive and driving just takes too long.
 
Weebos

Weebos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,060
This would be wild. That is a short enough train that I know people around here who would commute that lol.
 
Couleurs

Couleurs

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,355
Denver, CO
Oh another rail project to get excited about before eventually giving up hope when it's quietly cancelled after only a half mile is laid over the next 10 years
 
FinFunnels

FinFunnels

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,610
Seattle
The cost for 16 miles of underwater tunnel would be staggering and hard to get approval for, but I hope it happens. I love trains and the US needs high speed rail badly.
 
colorblindmode

colorblindmode

Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 26, 2019
2,565
South Carolina
Fistfulofmetal said:
Would be nice to have a rail system that runs all along the East coast. Opening up people to be able to access areas to the south for the summer seems like a smart idea for tourism. Flying is fast but too expensive and driving just takes too long.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Absolutely. I'd love a high speed rail system that runs from like Atlanta to Charlotte, then splits and runs south to Miami and north to nyc.
 
Snake Eater

Snake Eater

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,385
I hope that this can be made within the next 200 years
 
MJForum Poster

MJForum Poster

Member
May 25, 2019
6,032
London
If they can find a way to straighten out the DC to Boston route and allow for speeds of 200+ MPH, it's going to change travel in the northeast
 
Nemesis121

Nemesis121

Member
Nov 3, 2017
13,883
DekuBleep said:
America is so bad at building high speed rail.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
MTA thinks NYC subway system is the best in the world, riders call it shit, as a former NYer living just outside the city, NYC Subway is trash, hate when i have to use it, can't just shit on NYC only, NJ transit is just as awful, Amtrak is trash too, the entire system is 30-40 years behind Japan's rail infrastructure..
 
Shadybiz

Shadybiz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,127
Right, I won't hold my breath on this one.

Nemesis121 said:
MTA thinks NYC subway system is the best in the world, riders call it shit, as a former NYer living just outside the city, NYC Subway is trash, hate when i have to use it, can't just shit on NYC only, NJ transit is just as awful, Amtrak is trash too, the entire system is 30-40 years behind a country like Japan..
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Lol. I've been to NYC a few times, and I find the subway system to be pretty decent, all things considered. However, having visited Munich fairly recently, the assertion that NYC is best in the world is a complete joke. And that's only 1 comparison, I am sure there are plenty of other systems that beat out NYC.
 
Hollywood Duo

Hollywood Duo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,127
Nemesis121 said:
MTA thinks NYC subway system is the best in the world, riders call it shit, as a former NYer living just outside the city, NYC Subway is trash, hate when i have to use it, can't just shit on NYC only, NJ transit is just as awful, Amtrak is trash too, the entire system is 30-40 years behind Japan's rail infrastructure..
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's the best in the US which isn't saying much
 

pulsemyne

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,644
jetsetnickradio said:
The cost for 16 miles of underwater tunnel would be staggering and hard to get approval for, but I hope it happens. I love trains and the US needs high speed rail badly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The channel tunnel that connects the UK and france cost about 15 billion pounds in todays money and that goes much furthur. We are even proposing a new tunnel to link scotland and Northern Ireland and that would be underneith 700 feet of water.
 
steejee

steejee

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,637
A Long Island Sound tunnel (or bridge) has been pitched before and gone nowhere. It's perfectly viable on a tech level to build (after all the Chunnel is twice as long), but actually getting the funding and political will to do it is a long shot to put it mildly.
 
CrocM

CrocM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,687
This would be nice, but a line going south from NYC would just be a lot more useful. How many ppl really go from NYC to Boston that much?
 
Kill3r7

Kill3r7

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,469
This sounds cool and I am excited to see something new being built. Yet, I cannot help but wonder who is it for?

Nemesis121 said:
MTA thinks NYC subway system is the best in the world, riders call it shit, as a former NYer living just outside the city, NYC Subway is trash, hate when i have to use it, can't just shit on NYC only, NJ transit is just as awful, Amtrak is trash too, the entire system is 30-40 years behind Japan's rail infrastructure..
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

NJTransit is beyond awful if you are commuting to NYC. It is simply unreliable. MTA has massive issues but it is still the best system in the US.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,082
I don't see this ever happening at least in our life times. Hate to be a negative Nancy about this but it's just too expensive with land rights and land prices in the north east. Even if there was some miracle and this could be built in a budget, it's a hard sell with air travel currently being affordable. We'd have to see much higher prices for air travel. Flights from Boston to New York are like $60-90 on a given day, and the flight is 35minutes. I know the inconveniences of air travel make it longer, but for people who commute several times a week boston to ny it's a compromise.

Obviously I'd love rail connecting the north east more efficiently, but I've seen these come and go for the last 35 years without much progress.
 
Planx

Planx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,726
There is absolutely no way they allocate enough money to buy all that land between New Haven and Hartford, and then Hartford to the state line. But while they're in there maybe they can also divert the highways around Hartford for an extra $20b
 
Lowkey20

Lowkey20

Member
Nov 18, 2020
311
Meanwhile, it would take me an hour and a half most days to get from Brooklyn to the Bronx because the subway is broken and overcrowded.
 
LProtagonist

LProtagonist

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
7,602
I'm in CT right next to a station and I've never used it. In fact, when I want to go to NYC I drive an hour to get to a different station because the cost difference is that massive. With Boston, I just drive the whole way.
 
OP
OP
Wag

Wag

Member
Nov 3, 2017
11,638
Lowkey20 said:
Meanwhile, it would take me an hour and a half most days to get from Brooklyn to the Bronx because the subway is broken and overcrowded.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I used to ride the F from 179th St to my aunt's house in Coney Island. Sometimes it took >2hrs.

I live in the Boston area now and can tell you however bad you think the subways are in NY, in Boston they are 10x worse. I won't even mention the Commuter Rail which is a joke.
 
Huncho_Houdini

Huncho_Houdini

Member
Dec 31, 2017
7,103
Can't believe high speed rail up and down the east coast isn't a thing by now. US train infrastructure is crazy bad compared to peers.
 
Kill3r7

Kill3r7

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,469
Huncho_Houdini said:
Can't believe high speed rail up and down the east coast isn't a thing by now. US train infrastructure is crazy bad compared to peers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

How would it even be a thing? The land rights cost, especially in the northeast, would be astronomical let alone the project overruns and the ever changing political winds and Congress.
 
Huncho_Houdini

Huncho_Houdini

Member
Dec 31, 2017
7,103
Kill3r7 said:
How would it even be a thing? The land rights cost, especially in the northeast, would be estronomical let alone the project overruns and the ever changing political winds and Congress.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I know it will never be a thing due to the things you mentioned. At most we would get northeast corridor one day (Boston --> DC). It is a no brainer though and def should be a thing.
 
Tavernade

Tavernade

Tavernade
Moderator
Sep 18, 2018
8,644
Lmo2017 said:
Can we just hire Japan or Europe to build our rail system? The US's inability to handle mass transit is pathological at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I was desperate for America to get high speed rail before I first visited Japan and I'm even more desperate for it after. I would 100% travel to NYC for the weekend multiple times a year if this thing happened.

Wag said:
I used to ride the F from 179th St to my aunt's house in Coney Island. Sometimes it took >2hrs.

I live in the Boston area now and can tell you however bad you think the subways are in NY, in Boston they are 10x worse. I won't even mention the Commuter Rail which is a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My options for taking a train into Boston are to take a short drive to a commuter rail station or a long drive to a non-commuter station. Taking the longer drive saves me considerable time.
 
fick

fick

Alt-Account
Banned
Nov 24, 2018
2,261
Didn't Boston have a small underwater tunnel that took decades or some shit to build?
 
Culex

Culex

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
6,844
The Chunnel took 6 years and equivalent of 15+ billion dollars, but this was with multiple countries determined to finish the job.
 
Petruccis Biceps

Petruccis Biceps

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,540
steejee said:
A Long Island Sound tunnel (or bridge) has been pitched before and gone nowhere. It's perfectly viable on a tech level to build (after all the Chunnel is twice as long), but actually getting the funding and political will to do it is a long shot to put it mildly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I had wanted this for awhile but I can't imagine how bad the traffic would get on the north shore if a bridge was put there.

TheGhost said:
Where on Long Island do they plan on laying this track? There is no room

how many parks is this going to ruin?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Exactly, they already have trouble modernizing the LIRR itself, where the hell do they think they're gonna put a brand new rail?
 

BlinkBlank

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,226
I know there is red tape, planning, funding, etc, but wouldn't have this year been the perfect time to go crazy with construction on a revolutionary high speed rail when no one is taking mass transit in some place that really needs it and show how effective it is next year when we all get back to a more normal state?

For example, what has been a place that always and still does rely on cars but has completely outgrown them and still has enough open-ish land to construct a good chunk without moving individuals from homes and businesses?
 
Richiek

Richiek

Member
Nov 2, 2017
12,063
I'd say that fixing the crumbling Hudson River tunnels connecting NJ and NYC is a higher priority.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.