$1.4 Billion Dedicated to Rail Security, Provide Chain Increase
An Amtrak prepare departs thirtieth Road Station in Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke/Related Press)
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration introduced Sept. 25 that it has awarded greater than $1.4 billion to tasks that enhance railway security and increase capability, with a lot of the cash coming from the 2021 infrastructure legislation.
“These tasks will make American rail safer, extra dependable, and extra resilient, delivering tangible advantages to dozens of communities the place railroads are positioned, and strengthening provide chains for your entire nation,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated in a press release.
The cash is funding 70 tasks in 35 states and Washington. Railroad security has develop into a key concern nationwide ever since a prepare carrying hazardous chemical substances derailed and caught hearth in East Palestine, Ohio, in February. President Joe Biden has ordered federal businesses to carry the prepare’s operator, Norfolk Southern, accountable for the crash, however a package deal of proposed rail security reforms has stalled within the Senate the place the invoice remains to be awaiting a vote. The White Home can be saying {that a} potential authorities shutdown due to Home Republicans would undermine railway security.
The tasks embrace monitor upgrades and bridge repairs along with bettering the connectivity amongst railways and making routes much less susceptible to excessive climate.
Among the many tasks is $178.4 million to revive passenger service in elements of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi alongside the Gulf of Mexico for the primary time since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
“This can be a important milestone, representing years of devoted efforts to reconnect our communities after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) stated in a press release. “Restoring passenger rail service will create jobs, enhance high quality of life, and supply a handy journey possibility for vacationers, contributing to our area’s financial progress and vitality.”
The grant ought to make it potential to revive passenger service to the Gulf Coast after Amtrak reached an settlement with CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads final yr to clear the way in which for passenger trains to renew working on the tracks the freight railroads personal.
“We’ve been preventing to return passenger trains to the Gulf Coast because it was knocked offline by Hurricane Katrina. That 17-year journey has been stuffed with obstacles and frustration — but in addition moments of pleasure, the place native champions and nationwide advocates had been in a position to come collectively across the imaginative and prescient of a extra related Gulf Coast area,” Rail Passengers Affiliation President & CEO Jim Mathews stated.
In one of many greatest different grants, the Palouse River & Coulee Metropolis Railroad in Washington state will get $72.8 million to improve the monitor and associated infrastructure to permit that rail line to deal with trendy 286,000-pound railcars.
A undertaking in Kentucky will obtain $29.5 million to make enhancements to 280 miles of monitor and different infrastructure alongside the Paducah and Louisville Railway.
And in Tennessee, $23.7 million will go to serving to improve about 42 bridges on 10 completely different short-line railroads.
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