WASHINGTON — Disbursement of funds from grants awarded under a variety of Federal Railroad Administration continue to be held up by a lengthy approval process involving FRA personnel. These investments are threatened by potential staff reductions at the agency, as well as possible vetos by overseers invoking new Trump administration ideological criteria.
Concerned about such a prospect, the Rail Passengers Association and 22 other public transportation advocacy organizations on Friday, Feb. 28, sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, urging him to “preserve mission-critical personnel to avoid further delays in the administration of these passenger and freight projects.”
The correspondence refers to a memorandum sent last week by the administration’s Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management. It demands reorganization plans requested under a Feb. 11 executive order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” DOGE is not an actual government department, but an initiative led by billionaire and presidential advisor Elon Musk. Its efforts to cut workers are facing a variety of legal challenges; last week, a federal judge blocked, at least temporarily, mass firings of probationary employees.
The letter points out that Congress provided $66 billion over five years in advance appropriations. and another $13 billion through 2025. However, much of that funding is mired in the FRA’s drawn-out evaluation process [see “Amtrak independence at stake …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 14, 2025].
Gulf Coast challenges
Though obligated by the FRA, federal matching funds remain frozen that would help beef up the Southern Rail Commission to manage two Amtrak round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. “My understanding is that it is part of the administration’s hold,” says current SRC chairman Knox Ross. He tells News Wire, “No one has said anything about rescinding any financing, but we’ve been talking to Mississippi and Louisiana about other sources to pay for what we need to do.”
That includes hiring former Amtrak officials, who have taken company buyouts, for their institutional expertise, as well as promotion specialists to effectively launch the service. Although the SRC was also awarded two grants under the FRA’s Corridor ID program for the Gulf Coast and Interstate 20 Corridor (Meridian, Miss., to Shreveport, La.) proposals, the commission has put New Orleans-Mobile work on hold. “We were led to believe we could use the $500,000 to address startup needs — planning for actual service that’s ready to go — but the FRA says they can’t do that under the terms of this grant,” says Ross.
Meanwhile, construction of the Mobile platform and pocket track — a requirement before the Gulf Coast service can be launched — is being paid for directly by Amtrak and the city. And CSX has moved ahead with installation of positive train control around Gentilly Yard east of New Orleans. “This was done on purpose,” Ross says, “because we all felt like it was better to not have those key projects dependent on approval of a federal grant.”
The other obstacle to service startup — still targeted for June — is Amtrak’s insistence that separate operating agreements must be finalized with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. This is the case although the SRC’s predecessor organizations had acted to address that need for Gulf Coast Limited round trips on the same route in the 1980s and 1990s.
Despite those complications, Ross says, “Everybody is pulling in the same direction to make this happen.” Those with influence and an interest in the project include its handlers at Amtrak; new Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs, who sat through more than a dozen contentious hearings until differences were resolved; Mississippi U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker; and entrepreneurs at communities along the route who have been waiting nearly a decade for service to begin. One of these is Gulfport, Miss.,-based Chandeleur Brewing, which is in the process of turning the former Louisville & Nashville depot at Pascagoula, Miss., into a trackside brew pub.
However, now hanging over the venture is the possibility grants supporting the service will be judged to be “unproductive and unnecessary,” by those at DOGE or Office of Management and Budget. These individuals did not participate in the grant approval process or may be ideologically opposed to passenger rail.
Having come this far, two Gulf Coast round-trips sponsored by the Southern Rail Commission likely have enough high-profile backing and local enthusiasm to muscle through any obstacles. Other rail projects may not be as fortunate.
In the spirit of what a wise doctor once observed, “He’s dead, Jim.” It’s basically all over except the burial.
We’ve all gone back and forth in recent weeks, over posts by Bob Johnston and others, over the politics of this, so no need to start the rodeo again. We all know where we stand. Just one item irked me here, and it’s not only Bob. There seem to be certain words that always include the same knee-jerk modifier. Here it’s “Elon Musk.” This is always preceded by “billionaire.” You know why. Just as “rifle” is always “high powered assault,” things at home are done from”the comfort of,” tariffs are “slapped,” and so forth. Just sayin’.
I had this discussion (by e-mail) with the writer of an otherwise excellent history book. I told him his years of thorough research had been compromised by slap-dash blue-penciling by his editor (if he even had an editor).
When I was a kid, I read an article describing Framingham as a “small town in Massachusetts”. “Small” goes with “town”. At the time, Framingham (now a city) was well on its way to being the largest of the (then) 317 towns in the state.
Rightwing oligarchs do not differ from the previous batch of woke oligarchs. Oligarchs do what oligarchs are gonna do; enrich themselves are their cronies at public expense (or “billionaires” or “philanthropists” if one prefers). Paying almost $200M ransom to CSX to build sidings they’ve chosen not to bother with is robbery. The grants handed out by the FRA or the California HSR are the same.
Expecting the current bunch of oligarchs to act in the public interest is a fanciful notion as was Expecting much from the prior bunch.
Bringing back Eisenhower era taxation of income and corporations would solve many, many problems. Every billionaire is a policy failure.
So here we go. As I understand you, Mr. Spindler, the “rightwing oligarchs” are “enriching their cronies” by paying 200million to CSX in a robbery, which also includes grants by the FRA and money to California HSR. Said oligarchs, if you mean Mr.Musk and his political cohorts and I accept your characterization, have held political power for a bit over a month. Impressively fast work. Do I have that right? Or are you using examples of the former oligarchs to rain hell on the current team?