The Biden administration announced Monday that it has awarded more than $1.4 billion to projects that improve railway safety and boost capacity, with much of the money coming from the 2021 infrastructure law.
“These projects will make American rail safer, more reliable, and more resilient, delivering tangible benefits to dozens of communities where railroads are located, and strengthening supply chains for the entire country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
The money is funding 70 projects in 35 states and Washington, D.C. Railroad safety has become a key concern nationwide ever since a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire in East Palestine, Ohio, in February. President Joe Biden has ordered federal agencies to hold the train’s operator Norfolk Southern accountable for the crash, but a package of proposed rail safety reforms has stalled in the Senate where the bill is still awaiting a vote. The White House is also saying that a possible government shutdown because of House Republicans would undermine railway safety.
The projects include track upgrades and bridge repairs, in addition to improving the connectivity among railways and making routes less vulnerable to extreme weather.
For freight - awesome. But as long as Amtrak is “twice the price of flying, and five times as long!” it’s never going to be able to compete.
If we nationalized freight rail, Amtrak wouldn’t have to operate around the caprice of freight rail companies.
Of course, nationalizing freight rail would be opposed by freight companies, and anything that makes rail travel tolerable would be fiercely opposed by airlines and car companies.
Yeah that’s definitely an issue, too. Amtrak uses rails owned and operated by freight companies, and Amtrak is supposed to get priority on those rails … but they don’t.
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Amtrak owns the entire route from NYC to DC. It’s slow as fuck.
Last I checked it was slower than driving in some cases.
Not even counting waiting for trains, just driving beside the trains is faster even after their high speed upgrade.