Selected Documents of Historical Interest

The following documents, issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation and related organizations over the past several decades, shed light on the development of high-speed ground transportation, intercity rail passenger service, and the general railroad network in the United States. They do NOT purport to describe the existing system or pending projects, and are made available to the public solely as a service to historians of transportation and other interested persons in an effort to preserve and make accessible the corporate memory of the Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration.

• 2005: PROPOSED-NOT ENACTED: Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act of 2005  (for enacted legislation see www.gpoaccess.gov )
• 1998: Privatization of Rail Passenger Service in the United States   (March 1998)
• 1995: Record of Decision - Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Electrification - New Haven, CT to Boston, MA (May 1995)
• 1994: Northeast Corridor Transportation Plan - New York to Boston - Volume 1   (July 1994)
• 1994: Northeast Corridor Transportation Plan - New York to Boston - Volume 2 (appendixes)
• 1993: Final Report on The National Maglev Initiative (September 1993)
• 1986: Northeast Corridor - Achievement and Potential   (Nov 1986)
• 1984: Northeast Corridor - History of Running Times, Passenger Trains   (Oct 1984)
• 1981: Rail Passenger Corridors:  Removing Barriers to Private Sector Development  (Jun 1981)
• 1981: Recommendations for Northeast Rail Service (March 1981)
• 1979: Final Report to Congress on the Amtrak Route System   (Jan 1979)
• 1979: Northeast Corridor Improvement Project - Redirection Study   (Jan 1979)
• 1978: Two-Year Report on the Northeast Corridor   (Feb 1978)
• 1978: A Reexamination of the Amtrak Route Structure   (May 1978)
• 1978: Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Vol.1   (June 1978)
• 1978: Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Vol.2 pages 1-59   (June 1978)
• 1978: Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Vol.2 pages 60-118   (June 1978)
• 1978: Evaluation Report of The Secretary of Transportation's Preliminary Recommendations on Amtrak's Route Structure   (September 1978)
• 1972: Consumer Attitudes Toward Travel in the Chicago - St. Louis Corridor and the New York - Florida Route (March, 1972)
• 1971: Final Report on Basic National Rail Passenger System   (Jan 1971)
• 1970: The Needs and Desires of Travelers in the Northeast Corridor   (Feb 1970)

Documents Chronicling Past Regulation of Intercity Passenger Rail Service Quality

• 1978: ICC Report to the President and the Congress; Effectiveness of the Act   (Mar 1978)