ASSOCIATED PRESS: The bridges, tunnels and tracks were built in the early half of the 20th century and they get more passengers today than ever.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The bridges, tunnels and tracks were built in the early half of the 20th century and they get more passengers today than ever.
The wreck closed part of the corridor all week. On a normal weekday, 2,000 trains run by Amtrak and eight other passenger rail systems carry 750,000 riders on railway between Washington and Boston, making it a vital link for both intercity travelers and suburban commuters. Federal investigators will take months to determine the cause of the crash. Speed, not equipment failure, has emerged as a key factor. Still, the crash refocused attention on the slow-motion deterioration of vital infrastructure with a seemingly endless to-do list. By one estimate, it would take $21 billion just to replace parts still in use beyond their intended lives.
“The stakes are enormous,” Amtrak’s president, Joseph Boardman, warned in his 2015 request to Congress for funding. He said the corridor was experiencing a “crisis brought on by decades of chronic underfunding.”
