THE US Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has submitted to Congress its final report on the potential to expand Amtrak’s long-distance network. The study recommends increasing two routes which operate a three-trains-per-week service to daily operation and introducing 15 new routes at a cost ranging from $US 45.6bn to $US 59.3bn, effectively doubling the size of the network over which Amtrak operates.
Amtrak currently operates 15 long-distance routes in 39 states, all of which bar two operate daily. Since Amtrak was created in 1971, at least 15 long-distance routes have been discontinued, and four long-distance routes that were in operation before Amtrak took over were discontinued.
The current long-distance network has remained mostly static since the Jacksonville - New Orleans section of the three-trains-per-week Sunset Limited service to Los Angeles was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and temporary service reductions were implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The FRA was required to consider whether new Amtrak long-distance routes would:
- link and serve large and small communities as part of a regional rail network
- advance the economic and social wellbeing of rural areas
- provide enhanced connectivity to the national long-distance passenger rail system, and
- reflect public engagement and local and regional support for restored passenger rail service.
The two-year study involved 24 regional working group meetings with stakeholders in 21 cities. The FRA said it received more than 50,000 stakeholder and public comments that indicated overwhelming support for long-distance services or passenger rail in general.
The report recognises that the current Amtrak network fails to connect many city pairs and does not serve several major cities such as Des Moines, Louisville, Nashville and Phoenix, while the US population is projected to grow by 7.8% from 2020 to 2050.
“The network of selected preferred route options, if implemented, could provide passenger rail access to 39 million people that don’t currently have access to passenger rail, including 7 million people in rural communities,” the FRA says.
The FRA estimates infrastructure costs for introducing the 15 routes of between $US 17.85bn and $US 23.32bn. Additional station and maintenance facility costs are expected to range from $US 18.44bn to $US 23.96bn. Amtrak would need to invest between $US 9.3bn and $US 12bn in new locomotives and passenger coaches.
The report did not include recommendations for restoration or enhancement of state-supported services, the Boston - New York - Washington DC Northeast Corridor (NEC), high-speed, or other types of passenger service, nor did it consider improvements to existing Amtrak services other than restoring daily service to the Sunset Limited and the Cardinal which links Washington DC, Cincinnati and Indianapolis to Chicago.
“This report is exciting, bold, and potentially transformational,” says Jim Mathews, president of the Rail Passengers Association (RPA). “We need to do everything we can to ensure that Congress embraces its conclusions and sets the stage for multi-year commitments to growth.”
