[Publius]

Tell that to people commuting to midtown Manhattan on the Northeast Corridor (the old Pennsy system). They run those damned trains three minutes apart, the trains are packed to the roof, and what used to be a 12-minute ride between Newark and New York now takes 20+ minutes at an average speed of about 30 miles per hour.

At Newark, the 4-track Northeast Corridor shrinks to 2 tracks for the 2 single-track tunnels under the Hudson, built in 1910. Add to that the Morris & Essex trains that now go to Penn Station thanks to the completion of Kearny switch in 1996. They are planning to build a third tunnel under the Hudson if the fedgov can come up with the funds. (Amtrak owns the tunnels and rail line, having inherited them from the bankrupt Penn Central.)

Longer platforms, longer and more frequent trains -- and the extra tracks needed will fix that problem.

[Alberta's Child]

Excellent summary of the issues along the Northeast Corridor. I'm willing to bet they will never build that tunnel because getting more commuters into New York doesn't do any good if the subways and streets are already saturated.

By the time any new tunnels are built under the Hudson I'll bet many employers in New York will already have moved to New Jersey anyway.