PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Northeast Corridor Commission must send a service development plan to Congress by March 31, 2022. The plan must cover 15 years and list the big repair, capacity, and capital projects planned. It must say what service goals are, what investments are needed to reach them, how projects would be phased given delivery limits, what workforce will be needed, how construction impacts on operations will be handled, and how the work could be paid for. The Commission must update that plan at least once every 5 years. Each year by November 1, the Commission must make and send an annual capital investment plan to the Secretary of Transportation and to two congressional committees. That plan must coordinate Amtrak, States, and commuter agency plans under the cost allocation policy in section 24905(c). It must cover 5 fiscal years starting the year it is submitted, show which projects move the 15-year goals forward, and consider benefits and costs, project readiness, operational effects, and available federal and nonfederal money. Projects must be grouped using the categories in section 24319(c)(2)(C), with cross‑listed items shown. The plan must include a financial plan showing funding sources and methods, cost‑sharing status, which projects are expected to get Federal help, and which entities would receive funds and carry out each project. The Commission must allow time for review and coordination before finalizing the plan. If no annual plan is made for a fiscal year, Northeast Corridor account funds for that year can be spent only on projects listed in the prior year’s plan. Amtrak and other owners must keep an asset management system that inventories assets, rates their condition, shows needed resources to keep them in good repair, and notes changes since the last plan. The “Northeast Corridor” means the main line between Boston and the District of Columbia, plus the branch lines to Harrisburg, Springfield, and Spuyten Duyvil, and the facilities and services used to operate and maintain them.

Title 49, §24904

Transportation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Northeast Corridor Service Development Plan.—

(1)In general.—

Not later than March 31, 2022, the Northeast Corridor Commission established under section 24905 (referred to in this section as the “Commission”) shall submit a service development plan to Congress.

(2)Contents.—

The plan required under paragraph (1) shall—

(A)identify key state-of-good-repair, capacity expansion, and capital improvement projects planned for the Northeast Corridor;

(B)provide a coordinated and consensus-based plan covering a 15-year period;

(C)identify service objectives and the capital investments required to meet such objectives;

(D)provide a delivery-constrained strategy that identifies—

(i)capital investment phasing;

(ii)an evaluation of workforce needs; and

(iii)strategies for managing resources and mitigating construction impacts on operations; and

(E)include a financial strategy that identifies funding needs and potential funding sources.

(3)Updates.—

The Commission shall update the service development plan not less frequently than once every 5 years.

(b)Northeast Corridor Capital Investment Plan.—

(1)In general.—

Not later than November 1 of each year, the Commission shall—

(A)develop an annual capital investment plan for the Northeast Corridor; and

(B)submit the capital investment plan to—

(i)the Secretary of Transportation;

(ii)the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and

(iii)the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives.

(2)Contents.—

The plan required under paragraph (1) shall—

(A)reflect coordination across the entire Northeast Corridor;

(B)integrate the individual capital plans developed by Amtrak, States, and commuter authorities in accordance with the cost allocation policy developed and approved under section 24905(c);

(C)cover a period of 5 fiscal years, beginning with the fiscal year during which the plan is submitted;

(D)notwithstanding section 24902(b), document the projects and programs being undertaken to advance the service objectives and capital investments identified in the Northeast Corridor service development plan developed under subsection (a), and the asset condition needs identified in the Northeast Corridor asset management plans, after considering—

(i)the benefits and costs of capital investments in the plan;

(ii)project and program readiness;

(iii)the operational impacts; and

(iv)Federal and non-Federal funding availability;

(E)categorize capital projects and programs as primarily associated with 1 of the categories listed under section 24319(c)(2)(C);

(F)identify capital projects and programs that are associated with more than 1 category described in subparagraph (E); and

(G)include a financial plan that identifies—

(i)funding sources and financing methods;

(ii)the status of cost sharing agreements pursuant to the cost allocation policy developed under section 24905(c);

(iii)the projects and programs that the Commission expects will receive Federal financial assistance; and

(iv)the eligible entity or entities that the Commission expects—

(I)to receive the Federal financial assistance referred to in clause (iii); and

(II)to implement each capital project.

(3)Review and coordination.—

The Commission shall require that the information described in paragraph (2) be submitted in a timely manner to allow for a reasonable period of review by, and coordination with, affected agencies before the Commission submits the capital investment plan pursuant to paragraph (1).

(c)Failure To Develop a Capital Investment Plan.—

If a capital investment plan has not been developed by the Commission for a given fiscal year, then the funds assigned to the Northeast Corridor account established under section 24317(b) for that fiscal year may be spent only on capital projects and programs contained in the Commission’s capital investment plan for the prior fiscal year.

(d)Northeast Corridor Capital Asset Management System.—

(1)In general.—

Amtrak and other infrastructure owners that provide or support intercity rail passenger transportation along the Northeast Corridor shall develop an asset management system and use and update such system, as necessary, to develop submissions to the Northeast Corridor capital investment plan described in subsection (b).

(2)Features.—

The system required under paragraph (1) shall develop submissions that—

(A)are consistent with the transit asset management system (as defined in section 5326(a)(3)); and

(B)include—

(i)an inventory of all capital assets owned by the developer of the plan;

(ii)an assessment of condition of such capital assets;

(iii)a description of the resources and processes that will be necessary to bring or to maintain such capital assets in a state of good repair; and

(iv)a description of changes in the condition of such capital assets since the submission of the prior version of the plan.

(e)Definition of Northeast Corridor.—

In this section, the term “Northeast Corridor” means the main line between Boston, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, and the Northeast Corridor branch lines connecting to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Spuyten Duyvil, New York, including the facilities and services used to operate and maintain those lines.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 24904 was renumbered section 24903 of this title.

Amendments

2021—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–58, § 22301(1), (3), added subsec. (a) and struck out former subsec. (a), which required Northeast Corridor Commission to develop Northeast Corridor capital investment and financial plans. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 117–58, § 22301(3), added subsec. (b). Former subsec. (b) redesignated (c). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 117–58, § 22301(2), (4), redesignated subsec. (b) as (c) and substituted “spent only on capital projects and programs contained in the Commission’s capital investment plan for the prior fiscal year.” for “spent only on— “(1) capital projects described in clause (i) or (iii) of subsection (a)(2)(E) of this section; or “(2) capital projects described in subsection (a)(2)(E)(iv) or (v) of this section that are for the sole benefit of Amtrak.” Former subsec. (c) redesignated (d). Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 117–58, § 22301(5), amended subsec. (d) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (d) related to development of Northeast Corridor asset management system and Northeast Corridor asset management plan for each service territory. Pub. L. 117–58, § 22301(1), (2), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d) and struck out former subsec. (d). Prior to amendment, text of subsec. (d) read as follows: “Not less frequently than once every 10 years, the Commission shall update the Northeast Corridor service development plan.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 2015, see section 1003 of Pub. L. 114–94, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2015 Amendment note under section 5313 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

§24904 Northeast Corridor Planning

Summary

Title 49, §24904

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata