Biden announces new investments in passenger rail projects

President Biden, perhaps Amtrak’s most famous advocate, announced $16.4 billion in funding for rail projects on Monday, demonstrating a business-as-usual approach as polls show him a year ahead of Election Day leaves former President Donald J. Trump behind.

Speaking at a maintenance warehouse where Amtrak trains are serviced in Bear, Del., Mr. Biden made no mention of the polls from The New York Times and Siena College.

Instead, he told familiar anecdotes about his days as a senator, when a conductor named Angelo told him, “Joey, honey!” mentioned. and pinched his cheeks as he made the 90-minute drive between Washington and his home in Wilmington, Del.

Mr. Biden also promoted the $1 trillion infrastructure bill he signed into law two years ago, which included $66 billion for investments in rail systems.

‘I’ve talked about this for a long time, I know. But finally we’re getting it done,” Mr. Biden said of the funding. “I know how much it matters,” he added, describing a rail system that is more than a century old and in dire need of repair.

“If this line were shut down for just one day, it would cost our American economy $100 million a day,” Biden said.

Democratic strategists said Mr. Biden is making a point of sticking to his message despite polls showing voters in battleground states saying they trusted Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden on the economy, foreign policy and immigration.

The White House has dismissed the polls, saying Biden still has a year to campaign and that polls have historically failed to predict the results of elections when taken a year earlier.

“It’s fine that he’s doing an Amtrak event; it fits the brand very well,” said Jennifer Palmieri, White House communications director for President Barack Obama.

“What they need to do is keep up the drumbeat about economic gains,” Ms. Palmieri said. “You have to spend time telling people, ‘We’ve done a lot. We will get more done.’”

Even before the Times/Siena polls, Democrats had spent months expressing dismay over Biden’s persistently low approval ratings, concerns about his age and a slew of other polls showing him neck and neck with his four-times indicted predecessor in a hypothetical rematch .

“This election is a choice,” Quentin Fulks, Biden’s top deputy campaign manager, said on MSNBC on Sunday.

“It’s a choice and a contrast we want to create to ensure voters know that President Biden is working to cap the cost of insulin, to lower costs for middle-class families – in stark contrast to the Republican Party who wants to levy taxes. breaks for the rich and corporations,” he said.

Mr. Biden on Monday also blasted Republicans for trying to cut infrastructure funding and other government priorities.

The $16.4 billion that Mr. Biden announced will go to 25 passenger rail projects along the Northeast Corridor.

Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, attributed years of underfunding Amtrak to “a lack of ambition, a lack of resources and a lack of political will” that have contributed to disruptions and delays.

He called the new investments “crucial” and said they show that “America finally puts its money where its mouth is.”

Twelve of the projects will be led by Amtrak. That will include about $2 billion for the Susquehanna River Rail Bridge project in Maryland, about $1.3 billion for the East River Tunnel project in New York and about $827 million for the replacement of the Connecticut River Bridge.

The largest announced award will go toward repairing the 1.4-mile tunnel that runs under the residential area of ​​Baltimore, formerly known as the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel. The tunnel is named after Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery in Maryland before fleeing north and becoming a renowned abolitionist. About $4.7 billion will be spent replacing the tunnel with a new one that can increase speed from 30 to 180 kilometers per hour. It is the slowest section of the main line between Washington and New York City.

“These grants will help advance Amtrak’s plans to modernize the Northeast Corridor and resolve major bottlenecks on the busiest passenger rail corridor in America,” Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said in a statement.

The remaining thirteen projects underway in the Northeast Corridor will be led by Amtrak partners, including funding for the controversial Gateway project in New York and New Jersey.

The second largest investment will be approximately $3.8 billion and will go to the Hudson River tunnel project. The tunnel is part of Gateway, which began under the Obama administration. The project suffered major delays and setbacks after the Trump administration broke a promise on federal funding for the project.

The Biden administration said the 25 projects would create more than 100,000 union jobs.