Amtrak sets ridership, revenue records in US

Increased business travel in the Northeast helped Amtrak boost ridership by nearly 6 percent to a record 28.7 million passengers in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Year-over-year ticket revenue rose by 9 percent to a record $1.7 billion for the period that began last Oct. 1. All of Amtrak's lines experienced growth. Northeast traffic overall was up 4 percent, helped by more business travel, Amtrak said. Ridership on the Acela was up more than 6.5 percent.

Governor of New Jersey Blocks Hudson Tunnel Project

Gov. Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey said on Thursday that he has decided to terminate the construction of a commuter train tunnel between northern New Jersey and Manhattan because of escalating estimates of the project's cost. Until last month, the project had been estimated to cost $8.7 billion. But after his staff reviewed the project, Governor Christie said they concluded it would cost more than $11 billion and possibly as much as $14 billion.

This is an unfortunate development but $14 billion seems like a pretty good chunk of money for a tunnel.

NJ Gov. Christie to kill ARC tunnel project?

"NJ Gov. Chris Christie indicated that he is leaning toward pulling the plug on construction of a new $8.7 billion commuter rail tunnel into Manhattan (Access to the Region's Core, aka ARC), unless a revised federal cost estimate provides assurances that New Jersey can afford the project."

There's no indication one way or the other at this time if the project is dead. This tunnel will help out everyone who needs to get into Manhattan as adding train capacity will make train commuters happier, entice more people to take the train and hopefully help mitigate car traffic into Manhattan. I think this is a good project and necessary but if NJ is getting screwed on the costs then they have to do this review. Maybe he's posturing for more Fed dollars for the effort.