How trains linked rival port cities along the US East Coast into a cultural and economic megalopolis

• Each day, its trains deliver 800,000 passengers to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and points in between.
• My new book, “The Northeast Corridor,” shows how America’s most important rail line has shaped the Northeast’s cultural identity and national reputation for almost 200 years.
• In my view, this bond between transit and territory will only strengthen as new federal investments in passenger service draw more Northeasterners aboard trains.

Forming a great chain

• It was not until 1830 that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened the nation’s first public passenger line.
• The Philadelphia & Trenton cast another in Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore hammered out a third through Delaware and Maryland.
• Named for the cities they linked, these carriers helped turn a collection of rival ports into a cohesive economic unit.

Connecting a megalopolis

• Railroading became a way of life for Northeasterners.
• Physicist Albert Einstein liked watching trains click-clack through Princeton Junction during his time at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey in the 1930s and 1940s.
• One of Gottman’s adherents, Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, imagined the Northeast in 1962 as “one long metropolitan industrial unit.” A frequent rider, Pell believed that trains played an essential role in the region’s interlocking economy.

Amtrak takes over

• He called the tracks between Boston and Washington a “passageway for gargantuan surges of movement along our Northeast seaboard” – or, a “corridor” for short.
• When Amtrak took over U.S. intercity passenger rail travel in 1971, the Northeast corridor hosted its most popular trains – including the stylish, if breakdown-prone Metroliners, which whisked business-class passengers between New York and Washington at velocities topping 100 mph.
• In 2000, Amtrak debuted the Acela Express, a sleek and pricey train that was billed as the first U.S. high-speed passenger rail service.
• High-speed rail projects in California, Nevada and Texas, meanwhile, promise to bring world-class service to the West and South.
• This article has been updated to reflect that the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey is not affiliated with Princeton University.

David Alff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.