Last month, the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility launched a new blog, “Back on Track: Northeast,” to follow the region’s progress towards establishing high-quality passenger rail service in the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The blog is meant to serve as a common platform for information and research regarding the importance and need for investment in the regional transportation system, and foster a continuous dialog for advocates and supporters alike.

While the case for high speed rail is addressed in the blog, the advocacy objectives include a broader set of three goals for the Northeast Corridor, including achieving a state of good repair on the existing corridor; creating the capacity to meet the growth needs of all the corridor’s users, including intercity, commuter, and freight railroads; and constructing a “world class” high speed rail system on two new, dedicated tracks along the corridor.

In speaking about the goals of the blog, the Business Alliance’s Dan Schned stressed the distinction between advocating for a “state of good repair” and “capacity improvements” as they relate to the Corridor. Whereas accomplishing a state of good repair requires significant investment (roughly $8.8 billion today, with another $43 billion to accommodate projected growth in travel demand) in updating the corridor’s bridges and infrastructure, achieving capacity improvements requires an even more dedicated investment to begin to remove bottlenecks and add additional tracks, which would be necessary to ultimately achieve high-speed rail.

The blog has focused on these goals through numerous articles that have been posted since the blog was introduced, and has featured information on plans, ridership studies, key policy issues, and current news as they relate to the Corridor. A key contributor to the blog has been Editor Jeremy Steinemann, who is working on the blog as part of a summer project with America 2050 and the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility.

The founder of the blog, the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility, is a coalition of over 40 of the Northeast’s leading business and civic groups, and advocates for improved transportation links in the Northeast region. According to the Alliance’s website, the group “seeks to bring the region’s political and intellectual resources together to address the threat to future economic growth posed by the deterioration of aging infrastructure and worsening congestion.”

Rosanna Collars is a TSTC graduate fellow.