The Northeast Corridor: Past, Present, & Future
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Speaker: David Alff, author and professor of English, University of Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences
Author David Alff’s book “The Northeast Corridor: The Trains, the People, the History, the Region” is the first comprehensive history of the busiest and most influential passenger rail line in the Western Hemisphere.
This virtual fireside chat between Alff and HSRA Executive Director Rick Harnish dives into the complicated story of the Northeast Corridor, the factors that shaped its development, and how it fueled the economic and population growth of the Northeast megalopolis. No matter where you are in the United States, there is something for you to take away from the impact of this publicly owned national asset.
David Alff is an expert in the 18th-century Anglophone world and infrastructure history. Besides “The Northeast Corridor,” Alff is also the author of “The Wreckage of Intentions: Projects in British Culture, 1660-1730,” which investigated the origins of projects, which Alff defines as concrete, yet incomplete efforts to advance British society. His forthcoming book, “Rights of Way: A Literary Approach to Infrastructure,” expected in the winter of 2028, shows how 17th- and 18th-century legal debates helped bring about the road, rail, shipping and pipeline networks that define our modern world.
