The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is the busiest passenger rail route in the United States, moving approximately 700,000 passengers each weekday on over 2,000 daily trains between Washington DC to Boston. Despite its importance, the NEC relies on aging infrastructure and has suffered decades of underinvestment. 

The Northeast Corridor Commission (the Commission) is a forum for collaborative planning and decision-making that brings together Amtrak, USDOT, the northeast states, and Washington DC. In 2021, the Commission created the CONNECT NEC Program, a long-term service development and infrastructure investment plan to align agency priorities to address the NEC’s challenges while identifying required investments and the resources needed to deliver the shared long‑term vision for the NEC. 

As advisor to Commission staff, Arup has been involved in the program from the start. We provided the technical foundation for the initial CONNECT NEC 15-year plan program through 2035 (C35), supporting Commission staff in developing its first fully integrated CONNECT NEC plan. Arup also guided the evolution of subsequent iterations (C37 and C40), ensuring each reflected updated funding, service, and delivery needs.

Since the introduction of the CONNECT NEC Program, progress is already being made toward the long-term vision for the NEC, bringing increased capacity, reliable service, reduced delays, and improved regional connectivity, while also supporting a variety of jobs. Capital improvement projects outlined in the CONNECT NEC roadmap will not only benefit the Northeast Corridor but also the entire country. By enabling targeted, thoughtful investment in the corridor, the CONNECT NEC program will play a crucial role in the long-term success of this critical infrastructure. 

A map of the Northeast Corridor rail network

The Northeast Corridor is the busiest passenger rail route in the United States.

Laying strong technical foundations 

Arup supported Commission staff in development of the initial 15-year plan, providing the technical foundation underpinning the once-in-a-generation program. The development of the first phase required significant asset inventory, stakeholder coordination, and innovative new project delivery analysis tools to identify the capital projects required to meet the goals established by the Commission and the resources required to deliver those projects. 

Arup’s analysis generated an in-depth understanding of the projects required to meet service and capacity improvements while advancing efforts to bring the NEC to state of good repair. The comprehensive assessment identified a clear approach to delivering the CONNECT NEC program over 15 years, including coordinated construction schedules, service impacts, resource requirements, and funding needs. With this clearer understanding, the member agencies are empowered to work together to better coordinate projects and deliver on the goals of the program.

CONNECT NEC project information was then used by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to support the development of the NEC Project Inventory. This biennial inventory serves as a mandatory pipeline for Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program (FSP-NEC) funding.

For subsequent iterations, Arup contributed to updating the plan as the program evolves from aspiration to action. This effort included funding analysis to identify gaps and consideration of workforce constraints to update the schedule of improvement programs. 

This continually updated long-term plan will help transform the NEC into a modern system befitting a region with one of the largest economies in the world. 

The Arup team has been integral to the NEC Commission’s 15-year CONNECT NEC planning process, particularly through their work on project delivery analysis and cost and workforce modelling. Arup’s rail engineering expertise, strategic understanding of our work, and stakeholder management skills make them an asset to the CONNECT NEC project team.”

Meg Pursley

Senior Director, Planning, Northeast Corridor Commission

Project sequencing enabled by digital tools

Arup’s project delivery analysis included the development of a project delivery model. Informed by input from corridor stakeholders, the detailed model identifies interrelationships between capital renewal and capital improvement projects and how to best coordinate track outages, workforce, equipment, and funding.

To develop the C35 model, the team reviewed over 200 major capital improvement projects and renewal works along the entire corridor. Arup developed a suite of modelling and digital tools that aided the review of overlapping project delivery schedules, potential construction outages, and workforce mobilization to achieve the extensive coordination required. To communicate the results of the analysis to the Commission and key stakeholders, Arup also developed user-friendly dashboards that provide dynamic presentations of year-over-year progress to communicate the results of the complex assessment more easily.  

With each iteration of the plan, we “turned the crank” by re-running the model and updating project schedules to avoid conflicts and optimize resource usage. For the C40 program through 2040, the major capital program project list grew to nearly 300 projects through extensive coordination with corridor stakeholders and through identification of enabling projects to facilitate project delivery while minimizing impacts.

For a program of this magnitude and complexity, Arup’s analytical and technologically empowered process enabled the Commission and its members to integrate input across all agencies and territories for an efficient and viable strategic planning process.

A group of people waiting for a train on a platform

Arup supported Commission staff in development of the initial 15-year plan, providing the technical foundation underpinning the once-in-a-generation program

Partners & collaborators

Hatch / Karp Strategies / RSG / Gannet Fleming / Four Square ITP / Toscano Clements Taylor / AECOM / Jacobs