It's great these investments are happening but are they enough? The economist has a great analysis on how our antiqued rail and road infrastructure is dragging our economy to a halt.

http://www.economist.com/node/18620944?story_id=18620944&fsrc=rss

Hi-speed rail is an absolute WASTE of resources. It will cost huge dollars to build, and will require huge dollars to subsidize its operations.

It's also a huge waste of natural resources (unlike FREIGHT rail) that will harm the environment.

Meanwhile, alternatives exist and are already in use.

This is a glaring example of why big government continues to hurt everyone.

Congratulations to the many advocates in and near Back River who advocated for this money. Bow-fisherman George Malone you were right!

This like most Government "investments" is union only make work that could be much less expensively contracted if it went out to open bid like they do in all right to work states. This is Democratic politicans taking our tax dollars and funneling it to the unions to skim off union dues and then "donate" back to the politicans again so they can get re-elected. We have seen the drill before and the only sucker in this game is the public who not only isn't represented in the Government because the union bosses are all the politicans care about but the public also gets to pay the bloated costs for the union only work.

Dr. Torch,

What alternatives exist on the NEC that are a better option than high speed rail? Just curious because this corridor is profitable and subsidized far less than air travel and highway travel along the same corridor.

Two points:
1) This $22 million, if compared to a house purchase, would be little more than the "closing costs." That money would be for design and "environmental impact study," with little if any going to ACTUAL construction cost. Dear heavens, you couldn't even replace the swing span in the middle for $22 million. To completely replace that bridge--not just patch it up for another couple decades, but replace it--would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion or two.

To Anonymous who thinks the Corridor is profitable: in your dreams. Only the Acela trains technically turn a profit, and that is done by NOT allocating fully the share of the infrastructure costs it requires. Buses, trucks, and airlines turn a theoretical profit as well--only because all taxpayers are on the hook for the costs of highways, airports, and the like. (Yes, fuel taxes and landing fees pay for a lot of it, but not all--again, depending on how you want to do the accounting.) Returning to the Corridor, non-Acela trains and commuter trains, which carry the VAST majority of rides on the Corridor, operate at modest to substantial losses, on the order of $4 to $50 a passenger; these losses are offset only in part by the Acela, which can be called a service for the "fat-cat" rich if one wanted to be cynical about it.

And the Acela trains are what we're currently selling as High Speed Rail. So wouldn't it be a relatively safe assumption that faster rail would in turn produce greater market share if it was similarly priced?

Newsflash: things cost money. I think these things are a better use of money than more roads and more cars reliant on more expensive gasoline. Feel free to disagree.

24 miles / 135 mph = 10.67 minutes travel time.
24 miles / 160 mph = 9 minutes travel time.
10.67 min - 9 min = 1.67 minute travel time savings.
450 million dollars / 1.67 minutes = 269.46 million dollars / minute.

If I had more data I could calculate how many people would be home for dinner on time.

I can display meaningless stats too!

The ICC cost is ~$180 million per mile.

Average daily usage of the ICC in March: 1057 drivers

NJ NEC upgrade costs ~$18.75 million per mile.

Average daily usage of Acela: 8318 riders

There are more daily Acela boardings at the least busy station stop in NJ than there are drivers on the ICC.

But trains are the waste of money.

@Anonymous - How can you compare a road that is only 1/3rd finished to a fully operating rail line?

Mark,

Because my point was the stats were meaningless, as I stated?

My only point was people are up in arms about a comparatively tiny amount of money being spent on the nation's most frequented rail corridor, a corridor that will only get busier. And they are upgrading stuff that is over 100 YEARS old. Give me a break.