Amtrak Update Shows Map of New Rail Projects

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Mar 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM EDT


Amtrak, the nation's government-supported passenger rail service, is undergoing several expansion and modernization projects, upgrading trains, tracks and stations, with a particular emphasis on boosting East Coast services in an effort to increase ridership in the next decade-and-a-half. Newsweek has reached out to Amtrak's media team for comment via email on Saturday.

Why It Matters

Millions of riders rely on and use Amtrak for business and leisure. The rail operator set an all-time ridership record in its 2024 fiscal year with 32.8 million passengers. This month, the rail operator said it would focus efforts on increasing services in the East Coast as part of a larger effort to double national ridership by 2040.

Amtrak received billions of dollars in funding during former President Joe Biden's administration, but there are growing concerns that the Trump administration could roll back support or reshape the rail service's ownership as part of broader budget-cutting efforts. The rail operator functions on state and federal subsidies.


A map of several Amtrak projects and their progress status, as of March 2025. Amtrak

What To Know

The latest Amtrak project map, which showcases the Northeast Corridor, highlights a wide range of upgrades, including new tunnels, modernized rail systems, bridge replacements, station improvements, and rail yard enhancements. There are currently six major construction sites: Hudson Tunnel Project, Portal North Bridge, Connecticut River Bridge, Baltimore Penn Station, Philadelphia Gray 30th Street Station, and Philadelphia rail yard. The Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and Washington, D.C., with major metropolitan stops in New York City and Philadelphia, accounted for more than 14 million riders in fiscal year 2024—a 15.9 percent increase from the previous year.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/amtrak-update-shows-map-new-rail-projects-2049050

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They will attempt to privatize it by selling it to vulture capitalists, who will milk it, squeeze it dry, and discard the remains.

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Trump may destroy Amtrak

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/ceos-dismissal-signals-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-amtrak-analysis/

"Earlier this month, billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who heads the advisory Department of Government Efficiency as part of the administration’s efforts to upend business as usual in Washington, said Amtrak should be privatized.

Trump, meanwhile, has a vindictive streak a mile wide. And he clearly wants to erase anything that has predecessor Joe Biden’s fingerprints on it. Amtrak Joe’s signature achievement was the infrastructure law that sent billions Amtrak’s way for new equipment, route expansion, and Northeast Corridor improvement projects."
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"Calls to privatize Amtrak, zero out its funding, or eliminate long-distance trains are nothing new. In the past, Republicans who represent rural states in Congress always rode to Amtrak’s rescue. Neither they nor their constituents wanted to lose their long-distance trains. At the end of the day, Amtrak always emerged from political scuffles with enough funding to scrape by.

Don’t expect that to happen in the current environment. If Republicans in Congress are afraid to stand up to Trump’s plans to cut 83,000 Veterans Affairs jobs — a move that will only hurt medical care for veterans — they’re certainly not going to be willing to take a bullet for Amtrak."

[hueymahl]

3. Love the planning

We are so far behind Europe and china. May not work out with this administration, but maybe one day.

[Wonder Why]

4. We are so far behind 18th century America - and trains didn't even exist yet.

[Shipwack]

2. I opened this thread hoping to be excited.

However, I'm just disappointed.

I was hoping to see some nationwide expansion, not just a corner of the US being revamped. I'm sure the reason is that that is where the majority of the revenue and use is, but still... When you look at train routes in Europe and Asia, then look at this...

Anything is better than nothing, I know... We'll be lucky if even this modest work isn't zeroed out because trains are "woke" or some such stupidity. It's my opinion that Musk's "Boring Company" only exists to convince municipalities not to build their own mass transit rail systems.

Remember Obama's plan to link the country by rail? That was before we realized that the Republicans would vote against jobs and infrastructure improvements to their own states just to "own the libs". Some states refused to take the money offered.