Listen 5 min
Share
Comment on this story Comment
Add to your saved stories
Save
President Biden announced $16 billion in new funding Monday for Amtrak and other agencies to revamp rail bridges, tunnels and stations on the busy Washington-to-Boston passenger corridor, part of an overhaul of service funded through the two-year-old infrastructure law.
Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. ArrowRight
About half the money will be shared by two projects to modernize infrastructure more than a century old: The Frederick Douglass tunnel in Baltimore is in line for $4.7 billion and the Hudson River tunnel between New Jersey and New York will get up to $3.8 billion.
Rail emerged as a major winner in the 2021 infrastructure law, backed by a president whose regular train travel earned him the nickname “Amtrak Joe.” Congress approved tens of billions in funding to update a passenger network that lags behind those in many European and Asian nations, even as some lawmakers have faulted the administration for being too focused on the Northeast, where most rail passengers live. It comes as a transportation funding bill being considered by House Republicans would reduce some rail funding.
Advertisement
Biden announced the money at an Amtrak maintenance facility in Delaware, saying he had traveled through the Baltimore tunnel thousands of times during his career in Washington. He described its leaking roof and sinking floor as trains regularly creep through at 30 mph.
“This is the United States of America, for God’s sake,” Biden said. “The United States of America. We know we’re better than that, and now we’re proving it.”
Northeast’s century-old rail bridges, tunnels land $9 billion overhaul
Of the 25 projects the White House announced will receive funding, Amtrak will receive about $10 billion, with the rest shared by states and transit agencies that help to maintain the corridor. Some money is available now while other funding is promised for future budget years.
The projects include up to $2.1 billion to the replace the Susquehanna River bridge in Maryland, $1.6 billion for upgrades to rail lines in New York City, and $827 million for the replacement of a bridge over the Connecticut River.
Advertisement
“I’ve been talking [about] this for a long time, I know, but finally, finally, we’re getting it done,” Biden said.
Amtrak officials say construction on the projects should be completed over five to 15 years, while the White House said the investments will provide faster and more reliable service. The modernized Baltimore tunnel, for example, will allow trains to travel up to 110 mph.
Plans call for trimming the travel time between Washington and New York by 30 minutes, plus the same reduction between New York and Boston. The White House said the new infrastructure could cut delays almost in half.
While the White House said its goal is for “world class” rail service, Yonah Freemark, a transportation researcher at the Urban Institute, said the projects would modernize aging bridges and tunnels but not radically change Amtrak.
Advertisement
“World-class rail service means 220 mph trains running very frequently along this corridor, and we’re not getting anywhere close to that along this corridor in the next 30 years,” he said.
Share this article Share
In 2019, the corridor carried about 800,000 passengers daily, the vast majority of them on the eight commuter railroads that share parts of the network, mainly in the New York region. About 40,000 passengers used Amtrak daily.
Amtrak was hit hard by the coronavirus but has topped pre-pandemic passenger counts since the summer, saying the new funding will fuel growth.
“These grants will help advance Amtrak’s plans to modernize the Northeast Corridor and unlock major bottlenecks on the busiest passenger rail corridor in America,” Amtrak chief executive Stephen Gardner said in a statement.
In addition to tackling aging infrastructure, Amtrak plans to roll out a fleet of faster trains being manufactured at a plant in Upstate New York.
Advertisement
The money announced Monday comes on top of billions in other funding previously announced across the Northeast. The Hudson River tunnel is part of a broader overhaul of the connections between New York and New Jersey, known as Gateway, and is one of the nation’s largest infrastructure projects. In all, the federal government has committed $11 billion to the tunnel, with connected projects set to receive additional funding.
Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Gateway Development Commission, said with Monday’s announcement, the agency has the funding it needs to complete the tunnel.
On Friday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in marking the start of construction on the long-planned tunnel.
“For 30 years, Americans, travelers, businesses, workers have been hoping for this day,” Hochul said. “But years of inaction, excuses, delays and the infighting are finally over. We’re now heralding in a new era of working not against each other but working together to accomplish great things.”
The infrastructure package puts $66 billion into rail. It could power the biggest expansion in Amtrak’s 50-year history.
The New York project has been a target of Republicans, held up for years by a dispute between its sponsors and the Trump administration. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the Republican leader on the committee that oversees rail, said in a statement the infrastructure law money was not intended to “backfill the Gateway Program moneypit.”
Advertisement
“The Biden administration continues to unfairly divert taxpayer dollars away from the majority of the country to bloated, over-budget, blue-state projects,” Cruz said.
Amtrak has plans to use money from the infrastructure law to expand service outside its Northeast Corridor lines. The administration plans to announce funding from a separate rail program targeting other areas of the country before the end of the year.
The rail network’s plan calls for reaching 160 new communities across the country, attracting as many as 20 million more passengers. Supporters say Amtrak has not kept up with population growth, leaving its service map largely unchanged across its half-century history as metro areas have boomed in states including Texas and Florida.
More coverage: Air travel, transit, railroads Amtrak: D.C.-Boston Amtrak corridor gets $16 billion federal boost
Metro: Red Line shutdown threatens busy holiday season for arts groups, retailers
Road safety: When 395 Express Lanes close, driverless truck is taking over the road
Transit: D.C. revises plan to issue $200 tickets to drivers blocking bus lanes
Air safety: Delta pilot threatened to shoot captain on flight, investigators say
Share
Comments
Loading...