Other funds would go to station projects between Washington, D. The Rail Passengers Association on Sunday said it met with several members of Congress over the past few years and offered ideas that helped the measure pass. New passenger train sets would also replace the year-old Northeast Regional Amfleet trains and many Amtrak-served stations would be brought in compliance for those with disabilities as part of the new funding, Flynn said.
Amtrak officials said there will be new passenger equipment for state-supported and long-distance trains, and a new corridor development program to identify new routes across the nation. Most of the railroads that Amtrak owns are in the Northeast where the majority of its riders and routes are but the equipment and trains are outdated, said Pasi Lautala, director of the rail transportation program at Michigan Technological University. The funding for grant programs and corridor development is meaningful and nothing like this has been seen in several years, said Dominic Spaethling, chair of the passenger rail committee for the Transportation Research Board and vice-president of design firm HNTB Corp.
This new assistance for Amtrak will get employees back to work and restore service on routes across the country, at a time when this help is urgently needed. For our part, we are committed to transparency and are requiring enhanced reporting from Amtrak to show how funding from the American Rescue Plan is being efficiently and effectively used to respond to present challenges. Join Our Newsletter Get important industry news and analysis sent to your inbox — sign up to our e-Newsletter here.
News Analysis Features Comment Projects. Relative to the NEC, all of Amtrak's other lines are small potatoes. Amtrak receives funding from 20 state agencies and 17 states to support its short-distance lines all except the NEC. In its annual report, however, the company does not consider these subsidies revenue. The amount of money Amtrak received from the federal government between and Amtrak owns miles of NEC track as well as station structures, platforms and parking facilities near some of the stations it serves.
Despite its heavy reliance on state subsidies and inability to turn a profit, Amtrak is growing, and it has big plans for the future. In the face of the changing economy and climate, Americans are increasingly eschewing cars and airplanes from more efficient and environmentally friendly modes of transportation.
In , Amtrak announced plans to build a new fleet of 28 Acelas by The top speed of Amtrak's Acela trains, the fastest trains in the western hemisphere. Many of the soon-to-be-replaced trains have over 25 years of service. There have been eight serious crashes or derailments in the past five years alone. The PTC is a communications network that combines GPS, radio signals, data centers and dispatchers to closely monitor the status of every Amtrak train, all the time.
Amtrak is working to extend its reach into some of the fastest-growing regions of the United States, i. Recently the rail provider added stations in Virginia and North Carolina. To improve its competitive edge over busses, air travel and private cars, Amtrak must keep its prices down.
As it stands, Amtrak tickets are generally cheaper than flights, but still cost considerably more than buses. Amtrak's high prices are attributable to a confluence of factors that make the rail business extremely costly in the United States. If Amtrak fails to secure this astronomical amount of funding, the NEC will begin to face increasingly serious operational constraints while its ridership increases.
Of all the challenges Amtrak faces, this one may be its achilles heal. Accessed June 12, Federal Reserve Bank of St.
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