Amtrak to triple infrastructure investment in two years

Dive Brief:

• Amtrak plans to triple its annual infrastructure investment from $2 billion to $6 billion by fiscal 2025, the railroad’s executive vice president for capital delivery Laura Mason told attendees at a conference in infrastructure in New York on September 15, Engineering News-Record reports. .
• The passenger railroad also plans to commit to $15 billion in hiring over the next 15 months and $32 billion over the next three years.
• Mason said Amtrak needs the investments, which are funded by the 2021 infrastructure law, to meet its goal of doubling ridership by 2040.

Diving knowledge:

The bipartisan infrastructure bill gave Amtrak the largest investment in its history: $66 billion over five years for new tunnel and bridge projects, repairs and maintenance, along with new intercity passenger rail routes and more service along existing lines.

Earlier this year, Amtrak began work on a new $4.5 billion tunnel to replace the Civil War-era Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, and the Federal Railroad Administration committed nearly 7,000 million dollars to the Hudson River Tunnel project, both key projects in the Northeast. hallway Other major projects serving the Boston-Washington, DC corridor include bridges in New Jersey and Connecticut, and the East River Tunnel and Sunnyside Yard facilities in New York City, according to ENR. Three additional maintenance facilities, in Boston, Seattle and Washington, DC, are also expected to get major upgrades.

Mason said he is doubling the size of his department to handle the additional workload in managing these projects. Amtrak hired more than 3,700 people and invested $2.3 billion in capital projects in fiscal 2022, including new trains, according to a company filing. The railroad also recently launched its first electric bus service between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash., and said it may partner with a private company to create a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston.