PHILADELPHIA — Former vice president and Democratic presidential primary contender Joe Biden has called for a “second great railroad revolution” as part of a $1.3-trillion infrustructure plan released this week.
While other Democratic candidates have said they support the construction of high speed passenger routes and speak broadly of improving infrastructure, Biden’s plan is the most detailed yet regarding railroads to emerge from the 2020 field.
Biden is no stranger to railroading. When he was in the U.S. Senate, Biden frequently took Amtrak from his home in Delaware to Washington D.C. Biden even earned a nickname: Amtrak Joe.
“Two centuries ago, the first great railroad expansion drove our industrial revolution,” the campaign’s plan reads. “Today, the U.S. is lagging behind Europe and China in rail safety and speed. A 21st-century passenger rail system that connects people across our nation is essential to our competitiveness, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to giving more Americans the freedom and flexibility to travel.”
The plan calls for increasing speeds on the Northeast Corridor and greenlighting a new tunnel underneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey to cut the travel time between New York City and Washington D.C. in half. Biden also calls for the creation of high speed passenger rail service in the south and west, including the California High-Speed Rail, a project that was scaled back by Democractic Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this year.
On the freight side, Biden called for the implementation of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE), to improve freight traffic flow and commuter-rail travel times in the nation’s rail capital. The plan calls for building flyovers to avoid choke points at junctions.
Lastly, the campaign called for working with Amtrak and freight railroads to electrify more routes.
“Overall, Biden’s rail revolution will reduce pollution, connect workers to good jobs, slash commute times, and spur investment in communities that will now be better linked to major metropolitan areas,” the plan reads.
The Biden campaign writes that it would tap into existing grant and loan programs to pay for the proposals, while also streamlining the loan application process for rail-related projects.
Presidential candidates from both parties have long made big promises when it comes to infrastructure improvements, including rail-related projects. However, recent history has shown that those rail-related promises are sometimes forgotten once the election is over. In 2016, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump vowed to make infrastructure a priority in the White House [see “Trump: One trillion dollars for infrastructure,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 28, 2016], but three years into the Trump administration, little has changed in regard to rail. In 2008, while campaigning with then-Sen. Barack Obama, Biden said if elected, the administration would be the “most ‘train-friendly administration ever.” While Obama later pushed for high speed rail improvements, those plans never gained much traction.
Messers Mark Kaspar and Charles Landey are 100% spot on, again. Knee-jerk with not much critical thinking is not what is needed. Continued leadership, by railroaders, will keep American rails running. Government interference is usually not a good thing. Stay safe out there.
Braden – your comment “C1’s should not own RoW to begin with” has me figuring you as a Bernie Sanders type of fella. Maybe even a Karl Marx kinda guy. I certainly hope not. Capitalism built this country & anything less will surely destroy it. The envy you speak of is most certainly the infrastructure & the ability to maintain it. Your ‘pie-in-the-sky’ scenario of blending the companies & then separating them “from their infrastructure forming into a truly open access national system” already exists…..it’s the federal highway & interstate system…..with J.B. Hunt & Schneider Nat’l acting as UP & BNSF & the problem with that is maintenance, or specifically the funds for the maintenance. The trucking companies aren’t paying near their share. The Federal Highway Trust Fund isn’t much of a fund any longer, as it’s drying up. Where would the federal government find the additional funding to maintain your rail infrastructure wet dream? They couldn’t possibly……a quick look at our nation’s highway infrastructure proves that.
Transportation: noun, Something that everyone needs, but is unwilling to pay for. This is what, the 23rd verse of the same tune?
@Roger Williams- Who said seizure had to be involved? It could be an agreement between an authority to acquire said infrastructure. Anywho I’m advocating for open access on track not owned by the C1’s. Russian Railways and CNR run more efficiently then our system does. While our network has its attributes don’t drink the kool-aid. If our rail system was so well Trucks wouldn’t carry 6.5 times the ton miles rail does…Cars, and Aviation wouldn’t dominate passenger miles..
Braden,It sounds to me that you believe that the private railroads should not own the property underneath their tracks. I,m not sure what you are advocating for,but it sounds like some sort of a government seizure of private property. Maybe you can clarify your point somewhat.
I will reiterate that our own American freight railroads get the job done better than any freight railroads worldwide and do so at a profit as well.
Ah yes, the usual snarky, knee jerk political comments, as my Trains subscription runs down, down, down.
DONALD – You ask for comments. There’s worse people in this country than Joe Biden. Quite aside of his recent senior-citizen decline, he hasn’t ever shown the depth of analysis to run a railroad. At his best – years ago – Joe was a policy guy, not a manager. Being a good senator (as he once was) doesn’t always translate to corporate CEO.
As for sitting on the Board, there have been a number of politicos on the Board in the past but at this point in its history Amtrak can’t afford anything less than the best and the brightest. Joe was never that guy.
Mister Pins:
And as we all knows, I ain’t got no good grammer …
The above comments are genetic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Why did the chicken cross the road? To die. Alone. In the rain. Hungry.
“Our private freight railroads,for the most part are the envy of the world. They own their own property and build and maintain their own infrastructure. For the most part,the physical plant is probably in as good of condition as it has ever been. And to top it off ,they make a hefty profit as well. This is capitalism at its best. It is just too bad that these private railroad companies can not recognize the opportunity that exist to move people over certain portions of their systems.”
The envy is cost due to larger loading gauge nothing else.. India is running double stacks on electrified RoW. China will be next to run DS trains under wire.. Which provides even cheaper operation then our current system. The physical plant is constrained by it’s private operation. C1’s should not own RoW to begin with.. If you want to see a truly formidable US rail system. BNSF buys NS, UP adds CSX. Then BNSF ,and UP separate from their infrastructure forming into a truly open access national system..
We all know that Trump will be reelected again as our next President but I do think Biden would make a great replacement for Delta Dick or even sit as a director on the the board at Amtrak…any comments?
THEODORE – As a suggestion, you should continue your print subscription to TRAINS-MAG (which is nonpolitical) but not sign onto the blog where comments are welcome from the various points of view.
Total political bunk.
James Homan, wrong again It’s would not HAVE. Check with a better dictionary.
Well,George,I don’t know if you are replying directly to me or the posters as a group. But if you are replying solely to me,I would say that what is new would be a positive and truthful outlook on the private freight railroads.
There is something of substance that’s new here??
Our private freight railroads,for the most part are the envy of the world. They own their own property and build and maintain their own infrastructure. For the most part,the physical plant is probably in as good of condition as it has ever been. And to top it off ,they make a hefty profit as well. This is capitalism at its best. It is just too bad that these private railroad companies can not recognize the opportunity that exist to move people over certain portions of their systems.
Poor “grammer” reflects negatively on the education and intellectual grasp of the writer. Yes, this ain’t no stinkin’ grammar class, but Al is right. We all enjoy the back-and-forth of these posts, but I, for one, give less credence to someone who would have earned a “D” from Miss Winters in fifth grade composition. It’s not the same as your finger slipping occasionally on the keyboard as you post your eternal truths.
Off topic. This ain’t no grammer class. You know hey there.
but diesel locomotives don’t pollute munch of the air they have been built lately to low emission standards
Yea right. Biden will get right on that after giving free stuff to every living thing in the world. 21T will be pocket change after that.
Our 21 Trillion dollar debt is the result of a huge unfunded war in the mideast and two major tax cuts not because of funding for high speed rail. As for the statement of how we used to have the world’s best passenger service and it was privately funded, that service was a money loser which is why it went away. As for the US freight service it seems to be a sinking ship as well.
You’re first statement, You’re either kidding, or “Do you really that that?
What part of my statement was “yanking your chain”? Please tell me where I am wrong.
If I can travel from Jacksonville, FL to Los Angeles, CA without having to take three different trains to get there, then fine with me, Improvements to the NEC, the twin tunnels, and whatever else in the North and East don’t do me and others like me a bit of good.
Come on guys & gals, you know damn well Noel Petit is yankin your chain, OF Course we’re opposite of that, DUh!!!