Improving Intercity Passenger Rail Service in the United States
The federal government has been involved in preserving and improving passenger rail service since 1970, when the bankruptcies of several major railroads threatened the continuance of passenger trains. Congress responded by creating Amtrak—officially, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation—to preserve a basic level of intercity passenger rail service, while relieving private railroad companies of the obligation to maintain a business that had lost money for decades. In the years since, the federal government has funded Amtrak and, in recent years, has funded passenger-rail efforts of varying size and complexity through grants, loans, and tax subsidies. Efforts to improve intercity passenger rail can be broadly grouped into two categories: incremental improvement of existing services operated by Amtrak and implementation of new rail service where none currently exists. Efforts have been focused on identifying corridors where passenger rail travel times would be competitive with driving or flying (generally less than 500 miles long) and where population density and intercity travel demand create favorable conditions for rail service. Contents of this document include: the federal role in passenger rail, recent improvements to the existing network, high-speed rail and other new lines, and issues for Congress.
- Record URL:
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Corporate Authors:
Congressional Research Service
Washington, DC United States -
Authors:
- Goldman, Ben
- Publication Date: 2019-6-25
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 29p
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Government funding; High speed rail; Improvements; Intercity transportation; Passenger transportation; Railroad transportation
- Identifier Terms: Amtrak
- Geographic Terms: United States
- Subject Areas: Finance; Passenger Transportation; Railroads;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01711615
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: R45783
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Jul 22 2019 7:56AM