USDOT delivers $4.3B to Amtrak under IIJA's first year

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Amtrak an unprecedented $4.3 billion in funding this fall to modernize the intercity passenger-rail network, the department announced yesterday.

The dollars will be used in part to upgrade Amtrak-served stations and fleets, and to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Over the next five years, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will invest a total of $22 billion in Amtrak to improve and expand intercity passenger rail and address long-delayed maintenance and repairs.

The IIJA significantly increased Amtrak's Annual Grant Program, which is administered by the Federal Railroad Administration, USDOT officials said in a press release. The legislation — signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021 — also provides additional supplemental funding, from which this year's $4.3 billion comes.

Using the $22 billion in IIJA dollars, Amtrak will bring 280 stations into compliance with the ADA and replace a fleet of 1,000 rail cars and locomotives with new state-of-the-art equipment. Portions of the new fleet will enter service this year, and more than 525 new rail cars and locomotives will begin service by the end of the decade, government officials said.

The money allocated to Amtrak will also help fund needed upgrades and upkeep of locomotive and rail-car maintenance facilities; eliminate the infrastructure maintenance backlog; and invest in modern technology systems.

"This $4.3 billion investment not only advances a years-long mission of bringing Amtrak's infrastructure to a state of good repair — it also makes intercity passenger rail a convenient and accessible mode of travel for more Americans," said FRA Administrator Amit Bose.