Rail Advocate: Biden Ascension Wouldn’t Necessarily Help Amtrak
The Washington Post today has a piece summing up Joe Biden's ties to Amtrak. There's not a lot of new material in the story (Biden takes the train between Delaware and DC, he has a pro-rail record in the Senate, his son serves on the Amtrak board, etc.), but what caught our attention was a quote from David Johnson of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
Johnson said an Obama-Biden victory wouldn't necessarily translate into an avalanche of federal funds for Amtrak. He noted that Al Gore was a big booster of passenger rail when he was in Congress "and yet some of the biggest cuts in service came during the Clinton-Gore administration."
In 2000, President Bill Clinton proposed a $989 million funding package for Amtrak. According to the Post, the FY 2008 Amtrak allocation was around $1.3 billion.
Photo: relvax/Flickr
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
Stockholm Leader’s Message to NYC: ‘Congestion Pricing Just Works’
"In Stockholm, people really thought that congestion pricing would be the end of the world, the city will come to a standstill, no one would be able to get to work anymore and all the theaters and shops would just go bankrupt. None of that happened."
Friday’s Headlines: Trump Trial Trumps Safety Edition
Is anyone going to bother to fix the dangerous mess on the streets and plazas around the Trump trial? Plus more news.
Adams Offers Bare Minimum to Seize Congestion Pricing’s ‘Space Dividend’ Opportunity
The mayor's list of projects supposedly meant to harness congestion pricing's expected reduction in traffic is mostly old news, according to critics.
OPINION: Congestion Pricing Will Help My Family Get Around As We Navigate Cancer Treatment
My partner was recently diagnosed with cancer. Congestion pricing will make getting her to treatment faster and easier.
