EVENT DETAIL

Topic 1

Amtrak’s Program The NEC supports approximately 260 million passenger rail trips every year on Amtrak and the eight commuter railroads that operate on the corridor. Major capital investment is needed to upgrade critical aging infrastructure elements, many of which are more than a century old, to deliver capacity and reliability while meeting current and projected future demand. James Richter, PE is the Deputy Chief Engineer Structures for Amtrak and will provide an overview of Amtrak’s capital needs regarding the many major structural projects on the NEC. This presentation will include the Gateway Program in the NY-NJ metropolitan area and several critical bridges in Maryland among others.

Topic 2

Susquehanna River Rail Bridge The existing Amtrak Susquehanna River Rail Bridge is a 4,154 foot long movable bridge that supports two tracks across the river. Built in 1906 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it is located between the Town of Perryville and the City of Havre de Grace, Maryland. The bridge carries Amtrak NEC trains, Amtrak long-distance trains, MARC Penn Line trains and Norfolk Southern freight trains. It is a vital structure on the Philadelphia to Washington segment of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC). Amtrak planning efforts have shown a need to increase capacity on the line due to the growing demand for rail service by each of the railroads operating over the bridge. Separately, Amtrak is planning for a future 160 mph service on this line. The existing truss configuration prevents widening of the structure to provide additional track capacity. In addition, the speed restriction on the structure causes this two-track bridge to be an operational choke point on the NEC and will restrict future growth by each of the three railroads. The Susquehanna River Rail Bridge Project has recently entered Final Design. The project will construct a new two-track bridge upstream of the existing structure and then replace the existing bridge with a new two-track twin bridge to obtain four-track service. This will improve capacity, trip time, reliability and safety at this location.