Biden announces new funding for Amtrak Northeast Corridor

The new trainset will operate along the Washington-New York-Boston Northeast Corridor initially at speeds up to 160 mph (mile per hour) and will be capable of speeds up to 186 mph, the company said.

Biden said the loan will be used to rehabilitate train tracks and upgrade four train stations.

CNN reported in May that many aspects of U.S. rail systems – particularly along the Northeast Corridor – are in need of fix and rehabilitation.

Terms of the loan were not immediately available, but Amtrak said the money would be repaid through growth in revenues from Northeast Corridor operations.

Last year, federal and state agencies, including Amtrak, developed a 5-year plan to spend 17.7 billion on infrastructure along the Northeast Corridor between 2016 and 2020.

A January report from the Government Accountability Office said it is hard to determine how well various Amtrak lines perform financially because the agency does not keep sufficient records.

Amtrak’s funding has always been a topic of discussion in Congress.

“We can’t make this country work without rail”, he added.

“Why in this country are we so boneheaded to not understand the essential value of a rail system that’s modern throughout the whole country?”

So despite the support from the vice president, funding rail infrastructure has been a challenge at the federal level.

Speaking at the station in Wilmington, Delaware that bears his name, Biden is expected to stress the importance of investing in the country’s infrastructure.

Eight years later, he called Amtrak staff “my best friends in the world”. I believe it’s about 257 miles a day.

“These men and women have become my family”, said Biden, who briefly became emotional at Friday’s event. He still rides the train along the route as vice president, from time to time, he said, to the annoyance of his Secret Service detail.