HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s transportation secretary said last week he’s “hesitant to go forward” with projects awarded federal funding — including one to increase capacity for an additional round trip of Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian — in light of the uncertain status of those funds under the Trump Administration.
“Funds that were discretionary awards, that haven’t been obligated, are sort of in question right now,” Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll told the commonwealth’s Appropriations Committee during a Feb. 19 hearing, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonprofit news site. “It doesn’t mean they’re lost. They’ve been paused, and we would be hesitant to go forward with the use of those funds absent an obligation.”
Carroll cited the $143.6 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration awarded for infrastructure work announced by Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators in late 2023 [see “Pittsburgh-Harrisburg route improvements …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 7, 2023]. The state is obligated to a 20% match of the federal grant. The project, estimated at the time of the award to cost between $147 million and $171 million, includes restoration of a third track on the historic Rockville Bridge, 5 miles of new main line in Altoona, and addition or expansion of 12 interlockings [see “Plan to allow second ‘Pennsylvanian’ …,” News Wire, March 9, 2022].
Also facing uncertainty are two projects to develop new passenger routes, one between Scranton and New York City, and another for service between Philadelphia and Reading, Pa. A 2023 study said the Scranton project could carry more than 470,000 riders a year and generate $111 million in economic benefits [see “Study says Scranton-New York passenger service …,” News Wire, March 23, 2025]. That route, among those included in the FRA’s Corridor Identification and Development Program, is one of five to reach the state of creating a service development plan, Carroll said. Work is continuing “absent any declaration from the Federal Railroad Administration to stop,” he said.
The Philadelphia-Reading route is also among those included in the Corridor ID program, but is not as far along, Carroll said.
Hope all those Infrastructure bill funded Hwy projects are limbo too!!
First off, I’m not in favor of the games Trump is playing with previously committed grants. CalHSR is of coursre a waste and a scandal and should be cut off. It doesn’t follow that other projects fall into the same sordid mess as California’s.
That said, these grants do make the point I’ve been saying all along. Amtrak’s real deficit, the real and total subsidy to passenger rail, is hidden behind a whole bunch of different grants and programs. We need a valid accounting of what it takes to move an Amtrak train down the road, above and beyond the ticket price.
Charles – With all due respect, both your paragraphs come down on both sides of the fence in this discussion. The revelations of the past weeks convince me that POTUS’s policy is the correct one, even though our little pet here, passenger rail. may suffer some pain.