Northeast Corridor Commission

Northeast Corridor Commission
Commission overview
Formed	2010
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.; 38°53′57″N 77°0′29″W / 38.89917°N 77.00806°W
Commission executives	Kevin Corbett, President and CEO, New Jersey Transit, Commission Co-Chair; Amit Bose, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, Commission Co-Chair;
Website	NEC Commission

Congress established the Northeast Corridor Commission (the Commission) under Sec. 212 of Public Law 110-432 (Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008) ^[1] to promote mutual cooperation and planning among owners and operators on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line and to advise the U.S. Congress on Corridor policy and investment needs.

Description[edit]

The Commission consists of one member from each of the NEC states and the District of Columbia; four members from Amtrak; and five members from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Commission also includes non-voting representatives from four freight railroads, states with feeder corridors, and commuter authorities not directly represented by a Commission member.

The Commission approved a Northeast Corridor Commuter and Intercity Rail Cost Allocation Policy (the Policy) in 2015 as a first step towards establishing a new framework for regional cooperation. The Policy employs consistent and transparent methods for sharing about $1 billion in annual operating and baseline capital costs among infrastructure owners and service operators. In addition, the Policy calls for a collaborative capital planning process among stakeholders, new performance reporting requirements, and a federal-state funding partnership to eliminate the $28 billion state-of-good repair backlog and address improvement needs not funded through the Policy.

Congressional passage of the FAST Act in December 2015 represented a significant step forward for the NEC. It marked the first time that intercity passenger rail was addressed in a multi-year authorization alongside other surface transportation programs and it codified many of recommendations included in the Policy aimed at increasing collaboration, transparency, and accountability for all NEC stakeholders.^[2]

Members[edit]

The NEC Commission has five voting members from USDOT, four from Amtrak, and one each from the eight NEC states and the District of Columbia. Non-voting members include the NEC feeder states, freight railroads and independent commuter authorities.^[3]

NEC States: