Vice President Joe Biden, one of Amtrak’s most prominent customers, said Amtrak will make overdue upgrades to infrastructure and expand passenger rail capacity with the $1.3 billion it is receiving through the economic-stimulus package.
Biden, formerly a regular rail commuter, said more than $100 million will be spent on replacing a bridge on the railway’s Northeast Corridor, while $82 million will go towards repairing rail cars. In addition to the Amtrak funds, the stimulus package also includes $8 billion to fund a high-speed rail network.
The stimulus package is aimed at saving jobs, putting people back to work and helping to restore the nation’s long-struggling passenger railroad. Carper said, “In the short term, this money will put a lot of Delawareans to work. In the long run, these upgrades would reduce traffic, oil consumption, greenhouse-gas emissions, and household transportation costs.”
Stimulus funds, $82 million will be used to repair 68 rail cars and return them into service, helping to boost capacity on heavily traveled routes. Speaking at Union Station, Biden said $105 million will be spent to replace a 102-year-old Connecticut bridge on Amtrak’s heavily traveled Northeast Corridor.
Amtrak Yard
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. Amtrak plans to hire workers who have been laid off from jobs at nearby manufacturing facilities that were recently closed.
The largest project to receive help is the aging drawbridge spanning the Niantic River near East Lyme, Conn. Repairs have been planned for 20 years, but were postponed due to lack of funds. Biden said further delays would lead to significant speed restrictions, slowing trains on the Northeast Corridor that run from Washington to Boston.
Upgrades also include $63 million to fix Amtrak’s aging power supply system on the Northeast Corridor. Problems with converters in Chester, Pa., installed in the 1920s, led to three power outages in 2006 that inconvenienced passengers for hours, officials said.
Riley said, “We are going to put on 50 workers at Bear, so it’s going to help employment. As far as the trains are considered the upgrading of the track has to be done. We’ve got trains that will go 170 to 200 miles an hour, but the highest they can go is 160 because of the track”.
About $105 million will be spent on long-deferred repairs at Amtrak stations, maintenance shops and buildings nationwide, including the Wilmington heavy locomotive shops and Bear shops.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the funding includes money to refurbish 59 train cars at the Amtrak shop in Bear and $3 million for security upgrades in the state. About 450 work in the Bear car shops, and about 500 work at Amtrak’s Wilmington locomotive repair center. The railroad carried a record 28.7 million people last year.
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