WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill that would provide $200 billion in funding over five years for high speed rail and electrification of major rail corridors.
The “All Aboard Act” also seeks to expand existing passenger rail service and electrify major rail yards. U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) has introduced accompanying legislation in the House of Representatives.
The bill would provide $150 billion in funding over the five-year period through three existing grant programs — $80 billion for the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail, $30 billion to the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) program, and $10 billion for the Railroad Crossing Elimination program — as well as $10 billion for Amtrak. It would also create a $50 billioin Green Railway Fund to electrify the most heavily trafficked freight and passenger corridors, major rail yars, and support electric high-performance passenger rail projects.
It would also create a $3.5 billion rail formula program for state rail planning, maintenance, operations, and capital investment — comparable to formula funding that exists for highways. Currently, federal rail funding is only through competitive grants. Also included: $500 million under the Clean Air Act to address pollution from rail yards, and $300 million to establish freight and passenger rail training centers.
“An accessible, reliable, and electrified rail network across our nation would put us on a high-speed track to fend off the worst effects of the climate crisis,” Markey said in a press release. “The All Aboard Act makes critical investments in every link of our rail network – from investing in our workers to expanding passenger rail to electrifying railyards across the country. This bill would give Americans the train service they are clamoring for, help save our planet, and do it all with union labor.”
The bill is supported by more than 20 environmental, labor, and transportation groups, ranging from the Sierra Club to the Transportation and Trades Division of the AFL-CIO to the Rail Passengers Association. A complete list of those groups is available in the press release linked above.
Full text of the bill is available here; a section-by-section summary is here.
“The American people ought to have a rail system that is safe, gets folks quickly where they want to go, and keeps the economy moving—all while slashing road traffic,” Deluzio said. “I am proud to join with Senator Markey to introduce the All Aboard Act to make transformational investments in the United States rail network like electrification. This bill will make American passenger and freight rail a lot safer and cleaner and will invest in the rail workers who make it all happen.”
During the oil crisis some 30 years ago the railroads looked at electrification. But they didn’t want to build the generating capacity so they went to the utilities. The problem there was that the utilities only wanted to sell power at an industrial, interruptible (when demand is high they cut off their non-residential customers), rate which was totally unacceptable.. We can only begin to imagine how long it would take to get the permits for new generating capacity and transmission lines needed. Also doesn’t anyone realize that the US government is basically bankrupt? And what we will have to spend on is a lot more military capacity, for ammo and arms. Projections say in a Taiwan invasion US and Taiwan forces will start running out of ammunition in a week with little hope for resupply. We have created a society where building things is almost impossible and the government doesn’t have the cash for anything anyway.
Rep. Chris Deluzio is from Western PA and between Pittsburgh and the Ohio border. It’s the closest PA House District to East Palestine Ohio. Commuter service to Pittsburgh with RS-3’s (AS16ms) and “hot” P70’s (no A/C) ended in the 1960’s
#1 This should have been job one, priority one for this outgoing administration; every major commuter railroad should have been electrified by now.
#2 This initiative is DOA.
This will go absolutely nowhere in a Republican MAGA oriented Congress and would surely be vetoed by President Trump. This is the kind of government boondoggle that the DOGE boys are looking to get rid of. If the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad and Union Pacific rejected such a plan as too expensive then it is unworkable. To compare the U.S. with Europe when it comes to railroad electrification is a farce. Europe is the size of New England and the mId-Atlantic states and has half the population of Europe. In addition, they are not afraid of nuclear power and use a lot of hydroelectric power. Railroad electrification is cheap and easy there. Here it would tax the already overburdened power grid tremendously. Many of the lines that were electrified in years past are now dead because diesel power was much cheaper. Nothing has changed that equation and Americans are not in the mood politically to pay much higher taxes or utility rates for “green” railroads.
Good idea! Bad timing.
But diesel locomotives running on biofuels, running with battery, and low emissions can help the environment too, and electrifying an entire railroad in North America is still impossible
Sen. Markey represents a state whose state government runs diesel trains where wires have existed for two decades.
There must be someone in that glorious list of twenty supporting groups (Sierra Club, RPA, etc.) who has ridden MBTAs Providence Line. I live in Wisconsin and I have.