Biden's 2022 budget would hike funding for Amtrak, passenger rail

President Joe Biden’s fiscal-year 2022 budget request includes $88 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to expand passenger-rail and transit service and increase support for low- and no-emissions transit.

Sent to Congress last week, the budget calls for $2.7 billion for Amtrak — a 35% increase in financial support for the railroad that will accelerate track renewal, renovate aging stations, refresh the existing capital fleet, and address maintenance needs throughout the system, USDOT officials said in a press release.

It also proposes $625 million for a new competitive Passenger Rail Improvement, Modernization and Expansion program — known as PRIME grants — to modernize and develop passenger-rail service and expand existing rail corridors throughout the country. This funding is a down payment on the $20 billion that the American Jobs Plan would provide to expand passenger rail, USDOT officials said.

In addition, the budget calls for:
• $13.5 billion for transit including $2.5 billion for Capital Investment Grants — a $459 million increase — to accelerate transit-system projects underway and to support new projects that are ready to move through the approval pipeline; and $550 million for Transit Infrastructure Grants.
• $1 billion for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants — formerly known as TIGER/BUILD Grants — to assist localities that are undertaking innovative infrastructure projects. The American Jobs Plan calls for significantly increasing the funding available for the RAISE and Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) programs, as well as creating a $25 billion Transformative Projects Fund for projects that are too large, complex or innovative to fit within existing programs. 

Additional details about transportation funding in the president's budget request are available here.