The authors claim sub‑two‑hour DC–NYC and NYC–Boston trips are achievable for under $20B by standardizing operations, scheduling, platforms, and signals, plus targeted curve fixes—without massive new tunneling. The cost gap with Amtrak’s estimate comes from governance and integration failures, not physics.
— This reframes U.S. infrastructure cost disease as an institutional and operations problem, suggesting reform of agency coordination can unlock large, cheap gains.
Quico Toro
2025.10.10
82% relevant
The article argues Acela copies aviation (gates, single‑escalator chokepoints, seat policing) instead of train‑optimized platform access and high‑frequency operations, echoing the existing idea that U.S. rail problems are governance and operations—not physics—problems that can be solved without massive new tunneling.
Josh Appel
2025.10.01
60% relevant
Like rail performance hinging on governance and integration rather than megaprojects, the article shows NYC sanitation containerization is delayed mainly by interagency curb-space allocation (DSNY vs. DOT/FDNY) and phased environmental review, not equipment or capital.
Matthew Yglesias
2025.09.23
50% relevant
By arguing the core problem is that transit is too slow to get people where they need to go, the piece implicitly points to operations, scheduling, and network design—areas where governance and coordination (not megaprojects) can yield large gains.
Francis Fukuyama
2025.09.10
50% relevant
Like the rail‑governance piece, Fukuyama shifts attention from pouring concrete to the civic and institutional processes around infrastructure—he proposes using local project deliberation to balance collective and private interests and revive civic participation.
Tyler Cowen
2025.09.08
47% relevant
While the referenced idea argues U.S. rail gains are mostly an operations/governance problem, Dourado rejects the premise and says rail itself is the wrong 21st‑century target, advocating planes and AVs instead; this directly contests the 'fix rail institutions' frame with a 'pick different tech' frame.
Santi Ruiz
2025.07.23
100% relevant
Alon Levy’s report estimating $17–18B total and the line, “Amtrak and the commuter rail agencies have a mutually abusive relationship.”