America’s largest passenger train company announces new projects

A rail line over the Delaware River that services the US city of Philadelphia between the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (Image: Adobe Stock)

It is the first of six major renovations for the company across the country, which announced in January it was committed to spending US$5.5 billion to modernise trains, enhance stations, tunnels and bridges, and upgrade critical infrastructure. It has been called the company’s ‘largest-ever’ annual capital program.

The new Philadelphia facility “will service many of Amtrak’s Acela and Northeast Regional trains that operate up and down the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which today provides more than 12 million annual trips and growing,” said Amtrak.

The project will be funded by the US Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA).

The recent bout of spending comes after a 2023 announcement in which the train company announced a long-term plan to triple its annual investment in its infrastructure.  

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The company said similar upgrades, earmarked as part of the nearly $6 billion investment, will be announced in Seattle, Washington DC, New York City and Boston.

Amtrak has already contracted work on the Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland, and East River Tunnel Rehab Project in New York City, which it noted is part of its historic investment plan.

An Amtrak train navigates a crossing in the US state of Washington approximately 70 miles east of the city of Seattle. (Image: Adobe Stock)

The transit firm added it’s “continuing construction for major Northeast Corridor projects, including the Portal North Bridge and Hudson Tunnel Projects and advancing Sawtooth Bridges Replacement and Dock Bridge Rehab projects,” which are all located in New Jersey and New York states.

Other projects include the Chicago Hub Improvement Program, New York Penn Station Expansion and Washington Union Station Redevelopment.

“Amtrak is also supporting partners to improve future service, including Penn Station Access in New York, the Long Bridge Project in Virginia, and Compass Rail in Massachusetts,” said the company.