Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Is Endangered By Rising Sea Levels

Rising sea levels could overwhelm especially low-lying sections of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the coming decades — but the financially-strapped transit company says relocating sections of rail would likely be "well beyond [its] means" due to the "current levels of federal and state funding," according to a report by Bloomberg News.

An internal Amtrak study completed in 2017, parts of which were reviewed by Bloomberg, recommended constructing temporary sea barriers along one section of track in Delaware that can be installed ahead of storm surges. Raising or moving sections of the route to protect against long-term rising sea levels was not considered feasible.

"Amtrak already has really significant unmet cost burdens," said Bloomberg News reporter Christopher Flavelle. "And the question has to be, if Congress wanted to push Amtrak to deal with this more aggressively, would it also have to fund it?"

Amtrak's climate report studied a stretch of rail in Delaware, but  Flavelle said more of the corridor is at risk. But without a significant uptick in investment from state and federal governments, Amtrak cannot realistically assess a comprehensive plan for looming climate change threats. Amtrak calculates it currently has $40 billion worth of "basic" repairs that need to be met, according to Bloomberg News. 

A spokeswoman for Amtrak said the company takes the risks of climate change "very seriously" and believes that "over time and with the right funding, [Amtrak] can implement targeted solutions to keep the [Northeast Corridor] reliably operational between Washington and Boston."