President Joe Biden will announce $8.2 billion in additional railway funds this week, according to a person familiar with the matter, boosting potential projects — including a high-speed line to Las Vegas — in important states for the 2024 election.
Biden, an avowed rail aficionado who earned the nickname “Amtrak Joe” during his decades as a Delaware senator, is planning to travel to Nevada on Friday to announce funds for 10 passenger rail projects, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.
The projects include up to $3 billion for the Brightline West high-speed rail effort backed by Fortress Investment Group, which aims to link Las Vegas with southern California. Another $3 billion project involves a rail line in central California celebrated by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime Biden ally.
The administration is also announcing support for studying other potential routes, including four in Ohio and one between New York City and Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The moves were announced this week by Democratic senators Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, both of whom who are up for reelection in 2024.
The rail announcements, which follow the $16.4 billion Biden awarded last month for improvements on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, highlight efforts to showcase the results of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law two years ago. The administration is betting billions in investment from that law and others, along with a robust jobs market and easing inflation, will soothe voter concerns about the economy that are weighing down Biden’s approval rating.
Once built, the Brightline West project will transport passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in California in just 2 hours and 10 minutes, twice as fast as the normal drive time, according to the project’s proponents. The company says it hopes to break ground in early 2024, with construction to take about four years.
“High-speed rail is going to be a game changer for Nevadans,” tweeted Jacky Rosen, a Democratic senator from the swing state who is up for reelection next year.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority will also receive about $3 billion for construction of a two-track electrified high-speed passenger rail line connecting the cities of Merced, Fresno, and Bakersfield. “California takes great pride in our ambitious status as the leading edge of high-speed rail in America,” Pelosi said in a statement.
The controversial project could eventually connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, with capital costs estimated at as much as $128 billion, according to the authority’s projections. Former President Donald Trump stalled grant funding for the project.
The frenzied rail push has an electoral backdrop.
Rosen, along with Casey and Brown, will be crucial to their party’s hopes of retaining Senate control in 2024. Pennsylvania and Nevada are also important battleground states for Biden’s campaign.
“Good Amtrak service shouldn’t be a privilege only for people on the coasts,” Brown said in a statement announcing four Ohio routes as priorities for potential expansion.
An Amtrak study earlier this year outlined a vision for the Scranton-New York City route, including three round-trips per day, trains traveling at a maximum speed of up to 110 miles per hour, and an estimated 470,000 riders per year. Casey and Representative Matt Cartwright, also a Democrat, announced this week that the route was picked for exploratory funding towards potentially expanding service.
“Bringing passenger rail service back to my hometown and to our region will be a game-changing force for our economy, our families, and our communities,” Casey, who, like Biden, hails from Scranton, said in a statement.
Amtrak is eager to restore ridership to pre-Covid levels and aims to attract 32.8 million riders to its network during fiscal 2024.
