Obama Includes Struggling Amtrak in Economic Stimulus Plan

Vice President Joe Biden, one of Amtrak’s most prominent customers, was the obvious choice to make the announcement last Friday that the struggling national rail network will receive $1.3 billion in federal funds over the next two years.

The money, which is part of President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed by Congress last week, will be used to renovate trains and stations, improve safety, and increase passenger capacity.

Over half the funds will go to projects in the Northeastern United States. Though Amtrak is a nationwide network, the largest concentration of trains and passengers is in the northeast along the Boston-New-York-Washington, D.C. corridor.

The largest chunk of the money, $105 million, is earmarked for the replacement of a 102-year-old drawbridge over Connecticut’s Niantic River. Repairs to the bridge, which cannot handle speeds over a certain threshold, will significantly improve train transit times between Boston and New York City.

Other large projects include spending $82 million to renovate 68 passenger rail cars, which will increase capacity on dozens of train routes, and $60 million to install anti-collision technology on routes in the northeast and the upper Midwest. Another $21 million has even been set aside to improve Biden’s home station in Wilmington, Delaware, one of Amtrak’s busiest.

The $1.3 billion is double the amount that was invested in Amtrak during the last two years. Some Republicans in Congress were critical of the decision to pour so much into the rail network, claiming that the funds simply prop up an inefficient organization that should be allowed to sink or swim in the free market.

However, Amtrak supporters, including Biden and Republican Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, note that every national rail system worldwide survives on public subsidy, and feel that Amtrak should be no exception. Obama administration officials added that ridership has been increasing over the last few years, and that stimulus money will create or retain more than 6,000 Amtrak jobs.

Joe Biden is very proud of the fact that he uses Amtrak, which he calls a “national treasure,” to commute from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to his office in Washington, D.C. He claims to have taken more than 7,000 round trips between the two cities during the three decades that he was in the U.S. Senate.

Both Biden and President Barack Obama have long been supporters of train travel, and pledged during the presidential campaign to improve the country’s rail infrastructure if elected. In addition to the Amtrak funds, the stimulus package also includes $8 billion to fund a high-speed rail network.

By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related links: CNN, Boston.com, ABC, Amtrak.com, WTIC

Related links on PeterGreenberg.com:

• Amtrak’s Top 5, and Bottom 5, On-Time Train Routes
• Travel Joe Biden’s Delaware
• Barack Obama’s Chicago
• Sarah Palin’s Alaska