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Amtrak Receives More than $1 Billion
for Infrastructure Repairs

March 20, 2009

Standing at one of the busiest train stations in the United States, Vice President Joe Biden announced March 13 that more than $1.3 billion of President Barack Obama’s federal stimulus package enacted in February would go to modernize Amtrak’s infrastructure, the nation’s passenger railway.

“For too long, we haven’t made the investment we needed to make Amtrak as safe, reliable, as secure as it can be,” Biden said at the official announcement at Union Station in Washington, D.C. “That ends now.”

The money will be used to fund a variety of projects, from upgrading Amtrak facilities across the nation to repairing a 102-year old bridge in Connecticut.

“It’s way overdue” said IBEW Railroad Department Director Bill Bohné.  “It will mean a safer, more reliable and cleaner transportation system for the riding public, and more jobs and work for IBEW members.”

Investment in Amtrak dropped off greatly in the last eight years, as President George W. Bush and some congressional GOP leaders tried to slash the railway’s budget, threatening to privatize the government-owned system.

Both President Obama and the vice president campaigned as strong supporters of rebuilding our passenger rail system. Biden himself is a long time Amtrak rider, having commuted by train from Wilmington, Del., to Washington, D.C., for more than 35 years.

More than $100 million of the stimulus money will go to repairs at Amtrak stations, maintenance shops and train cars, an investment that has already opened up 50 new electrician positions.

Half of the openings are at Amtrak’s Bear car shop outside Wilmington, which is represented by Local 2270. The other half are at the Beech Grove, Ind., facility near Indianapolis, which is represented by Local 784.

The IBEW represents more than a 1,000 workers at Amtrak.

“We started the interviews already, last week,” Local 2270 Business Manager Frank Gentry told the News Journal, a Wilmington-based newspaper. “It’s great for Amtrak and it’s great for the economy.”

It is estimated that the new funding will create more than 6,000 jobs, many of them decent paying, union positions. It also expected that the infrastructure investments will improve travel time by upgrading the tracks to allow for faster train speeds.

“We’ve seen so much equipment mothballed because of age or damage over the years,” said System Council 7 Assistant General Chairman Alexander Landisio Jr. The council represents electricians that work for passenger railroads. “I think everybody is excited about seeing that long overdue projects will finally get done and that we will have more people on payroll to help out.”

“Unfortunately, the vice president will miss out on the upgraded facilities and equipment now that he is in D.C. full time,” said Bohné. “But I know that I and the 500,000 other passengers who ride Amtrak each week will soon be enjoying faster, safer and more comfortable service thanks to the efforts of Biden, President Obama, and our friends in Congress.”

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user Roadsidepictures