Does the "Northeast Corridor" include Portland (ME), Richmond and Norfolk/Virginia Beach?

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by spencer114

I was all over the Pioneer Valley. Everything west of Springfield was very Appalachian (to include the aforementioned Confederate flags plus tobacco fields /barns and gun shops). I even saw a fella (folksy for effect) rolling coal through downtown Amherst. I also saw a bunch of highbrow stuff too of course. Mass MoCA was great. I saw a piece exhibited there that was actually first assembled at the VMFA in Richmond by VCU sculpture students. The artist is Asian and it was a “tiger skin” rug made from cigarettes. I think the VMFA brought him to the states* and it was a nod to Philip Morris.

*could be 100% wrong about his history in the states but Philip Morris factored heavily into his design (site specific piece with a local flare).

Ive also been all over Western MA as I live, well, 6 miles to the Western MA border. Ive never seen this in MA. Never heard this, quite the opposite. Mind providing proof/imagery to back that up?

Upstate NY? Absolutely.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Although that nighttime satellite map of definitely gives you a good idea about physical connection, it's certainly not the end-all be-all and doesn't explain the entire picture.

For example, I don't think it's a question that the Lehigh Valley is absolutely a very strong "satellite" part of the NEC. Very connected economically, demographically and infrastructurally to the core Philadelphia and NYC areas--much moreso than a place like Springfield, whose strongest connection is to Hartford.

I think Hartford is part of the expanse and an important employment node within that expanse with Hartford closely connected to New Haven and Waterbury along with Springfield. I guess the question here is if Hartford not being on the actual corridor should count as a node.

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Separately from the above, I thought it might be good to look at how many train services these prospective Northeast Corridor cities that actually have service via the Northeast Corridor rail line that gives the region/megalopolis its name.

If we stick more closely with the origin of the corridor around the actual rail track, then the Northeast Corridor indisputably includes the actual corridor from Boston to DC. I think there's a decent case that major lines that ply the corridor line which Amtrak describes as corridor service have the start of an argument for inclusion. That corridor service is a bit wide as it includes: A (Acela), KS (Keystone Service), NR (Northeast Regional), PA (Pennsylvanian), VT (Vermonter). There are also long distance services that serve at least part of the corridor.

I think saying just any city with service from a corridor service is too wide of a scope as trains likes the Pennsylvania and Vermonter provide only one daily in each direction, but cities that have more than one service a day in each direction when combined are interesting. These would be:

Hartford and Springfield get one daily VT and one NR service for a total of two coming up from DC and splitting at New Haven

PA stations up to Harrisburg have one daily from PA service plus an additional six from KS, though this only plies the Northeast Corridor from NYC to Philadelphia.

Richmond at Staple Mills gets four daily NR services from Boston, but on top of that also gets three more dailies via long distance services starting from NYC for a total of seven from there.

Richmond downtown, and further out from there, Williamsburg and Newport News that are part of the Tidewater region with Norfolk and Virginia Beach, gets two daily NR services from Boston.

Norfolk gets two daily NR services from Boston; combined with the above, this means the Tidewater region gets four daily NR services from Boston

Portland has no trains that ply the Northeast Corridor as Boston somehow still hasn't linked the South Station with North Station which is ridiculous.

Lehigh Valley unfortunately has no train service. It'd be nice if it had train service from both Philadelphia and New York City and that the train service went up there and then further out to at least the Southern Tier of New York State.

Places not mentioned yet:

Charlottesville gets one daily NR service from Boston (and goes out to Roanoke), with the long distance daily Crescent and (three days a week, pfft) Cardinal services from NYC, gets two to three daily services depending on the day from NYC on down; Lynchburg is similar but without the the Cardinal

Petersburg in Virginia and Rocky Mount in North Carolina all get four daily services from NYC on down via the long-distance Carolinian, Palmetto, Silver Star, and Silver Meteor (this one suspended until March due to covid) that run the corridor, but are not corridor services

Savannah gets three daily services from NYC down via the long distance Palmetto (terminus), and the two Silver services though those two services diverge after Rocky Mount and reconnect in Savannah

Savannah down to Kissimmee in Florida which hit Jacksonville and Orlando along the way have two daily services from NYC down via the long distance Silver Star and Silver Meteor

Obviously not going to argue that these are extensions of the northeast corridor, but sort of just kept going once I started. I do think Charlottesville might make for an interesting inclusion though. It does have at least one daily corridor line service that goes through the entire full corridor and additional ones for up to NY Penn Station. Also, screw having NYC Penn Station as a northern terminal station. Just bring it out to Boston, LIRR / east of river Metro-North or Springfield and beyond to do a turnaround instead of using the crowded berths to do a turnaround. It's more fun for everyone.