U.S. Passenger Train Projects Receive Funding, including Amtrak and Light Rail

While the Coronavirus pandemic dramatically slowed passenger train usage, many train systems have significant long-term expansion plans. The U.S. remains far behind the rest of the developed world in terms of high-speed passenger rail. Despite the possible advantages of regional high-speed trains for the U.S., including energy efficiency, low pollution output and relief for crowded airports and highways, funding remains uncertain. Many analysts also have serious doubts that ridership could reach high enough levels to justify the investment, as America is largely an automobile-based culture.

Voters in California approved $10 billion in bonds in 2008 to support the development of fast passenger trains within the state. Unfortunately, the projected cost of building a high-speed rail line running between Los Angeles and San Francisco ballooned from the original estimate of about $33 billion in 2009 to estimates of about $100 billion. Consequently, in early 2019 the scope of the project was rolled back to focus on completing only the relatively small first stage, which would run between Bakersfield and Merced in the heart of California’s agricultural belt. The U.S. Department of Transportation responded to the news by cancelling more than $900 million in federal grants for the bullet train. In 2020, state legislators proposed shortening the line to the 120 miles that were already somewhat under construction, as well as switching from electric trains to lower-cost diesel. By early 2023, the cost of the project had ballooned to $128 billion, and a completion date for the vastly reduced project was pushed back to 2033 (however, its past history has not been promising, and its future and funding are not at all clear as taxpayers’ enthusiasm for the project could easily plummet further).

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U.S. Passenger Train Projects Receive Funding, including Amtrak and Light Rail, Business and Industry Trends Analysis

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