Nevertheless, despite this planning and investment, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) still notes that much of the NEC’s infrastructure is beyond its useful life. According to ASCE, “U.S. rail still faces clear challenges, most notably in passenger rail, which faces the dual problems of aging infrastructure and insufficient funding.” As stated by the Northeast Corridor Commission (a Congressional organization established to develop coordinated strategies for improving the NEC’s rail network), “…the NEC has hundreds of miles of aging track bed, hundreds of century-old small bridges, over a dozen century-old major bridges and tunnels, and power supply and signal systems that still rely on 1930s technology… we must bear in mind that future work to replace these assets will require more sacrifice in the form of disruptions to existing train services.”
