Future Boston University students from D.C. may get an easy way to get home fast &- without having to take an airplane.
A high-speed rail line through the Northeast proposed by Amtrak last week will take just over three hours to get from Boston to Washington D.C. and just over an hour to get from New York City to Boston, according to a report by the government-run rail company.
Amtrak predicts the project will be completed by 2040.
The trains will go up to 220 mph, reducing travel time by more than half, and the project will decrease America’s environmental impact and create jobs, the report said.
“A Next-Generation (Next-Gen) High-Speed Rail system in the Northeast could be a “game-changer’ in terms of high-quality, world-class rail service to meet this increased travel demand in an efficient cost-effective and sustainable manner,” the report said.
Still, the plan requires additional funding from Congress to pay for the estimated $117 billion needed to complete the project &- an uncertain prospect, especially in an election year.
The high-speed rail aims to connect the East Coast with major stops at New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and intermediate stops at cities like Boston and Baltimore.
“It is a vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman in the report.
“The NEC is the nation’s most important passenger rail corridor,” the report said.
The new project will create about 120,000 permanent jobs and generate an annual operating surplus of about $900 million, according to the report.
Even though the project proposes a more efficient and greener rail system, it would be the most expensive rail project ever undertaken in the U.S. with a projected cost of $117 billion.
Students had mixed reactions to the Amtrak rail plan.
Isatu Crosby, College of General Studies freshman, said she might take the train in the future.
“I prefer trains to planes, so yes, I might take the train,” Crosby said.
“I take flights home, but this is in less time. It’s kind of a long trip and so this definitely seems better,” said College of Arts sophomore Frances Pacheco.
College of Arts freshman Kelly Blumenthal said she’d be interested to hear more about it in the future.
“It will certainly be an incentive to go to D.C., assuming the price is not astronomical,” she said.
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