Are passenger trains entering a golden age or reaching the end of the line?
Following decades of penny-pinching, the first half of the 2020s appeared to be the beginning of a golden age for passenger rail investment in the United States.
Since 2021, Amtrak has received approximately $32 billion from the federal government as a result of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, allowing the national passenger railroad to address a years-long backlog of infrastructure and equipment upgrades. The act also provided funding to study the expansion of Amtrak’s network — including reviving a second route across Montana, the North Coast Hiawatha, that hasn’t had service since 1979.
While the fruits of that historic investment are still years away in some instances, officials had other reasons to celebrate. During fiscal year 2024, Amtrak carried a record-breaking 32.8 million passengers, a 15% increase over the previous year and a return to its pre-pandemic ridership. The railroad also brought in $2.5 billion in ticket revenue, a record amount in its 53-year history.
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