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6/3/2021
Twenty-three members of Congress are urging the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee to consider authorizing a new public-benefit corporation to create and build the North Atlantic Rail network.
North Atlantic Rail is a $105 billion plan for a new network of high-speed intercity and regional rail service connecting smaller cities throughout six New England states and New York. Then plan calls for a new 100-minute rail service from Boston to New York via Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut; and Long Island, New York.
In a letter to T&I Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the 23 Members wrote the proposed rail network could serve as a prototype for new 21st century rail networks in the nation’s other megaregions.
The co-signers are asking DeFazio and Graves to consider including authorization for a North Atlantic Rail Corporation (NARC) in the upcoming surface-transportation reauthorization legislation.
NARC would be a defined-term, special-purpose entity, with a board appointed by the governors of the seven states. NARC would be charged with partnering with Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Northeast Corridor Commission and local rail and transportation agencies to complete the North Atlantic Rail network on time and on budget and deliver it to Amtrak and local agencies, at which point NARC would sunset.
"North Atlantic Rail will create high-quality infrastructure jobs, address climate change, revitalize historic towns and cities, and keep the United States competitive in the global community," said Steve Beeline, county executive of Suffolk County, New York, and co-chair of the North Atlantic Rail Alliance, said in a press release.