Insider, 6/25/21
Amtrak may not see the full $80 billion Biden suggested, but planned infrastructure laws may finally help it beat out freight trains
- Biden's revised $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan doesn't give Amtrak the $80 billion it was initially promised.
- Passenger and freight rail will only get a combined $66 billion if the compromise proposal passes.
- Amtrak may, however, get to take freight rail companies to court over disputes that have been causing lengthy delays.
New details of President Joe Biden's revised infrastructure plan have emerged following a Thursday compromise with Congressional Republicans. A total of $1.2 trillion in funding will be distributed if the bill is passed in Congress, down from an initial $2 trillion, though some Republicans are already distancing themselves from the plan.
Investments in the nation's railroads are still a priority in the new plan, largely owing to the president's former life as an Amtrak-commuting senator.
The White House maintains that the funding will "Improve healthy, sustainable transportation options for millions of Americans by modernizing and expanding transit and rail networks across the country while reducing greenhouse gas emissions."