WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration has awarded $8.2 billion for passenger rail projects across the U.S., including the first high-speed rail projects in the country.
The funding, announced Friday, comes from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program and will boost projects in 18 states.
President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on the announcement from Las Vegas on Friday afternoon.
“After waiting years for new federal funding, 2023 is the year in which major rail and transit projects across the country are moving forward,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
Two high-profile projects will create the first high-speed rail systems in the country, one linking northern and southern California and another linking the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas.
The Brightline West High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail System Project received $3 billion for a 218-mile line between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, California, in the San Bernardino area. Trains on the line will make the trip in about two hours, nearly twice as fast as driving.
Expected to serve more than 11 million passengers a year, the project will create 35,000 construction jobs and support 1,000 permanent jobs. It will allow connections to the Los Angeles metropolitan area through the Metrolink commuter rail system.
The California Inaugural High-Speed Rail Service project received $3.07 billion to develop a high-speed rail service for California’s Central Valley between Bakersfield and Merced. Trains on the 171-mile rail corridor will be able to travel up to 220 mph.
Officials also awarded $1.1 billion for the Raleigh to Richmond Innovating Rail Program. The money will fund two phases of the project between Raleigh and Wake Forest, North Carolina, with new tracks, eleven grade separations and closure of multiple at-grade crossings.
The larger project is a multi-phased effort to add a new passenger rail route between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia, better connecting the South to Washington, D.C., and the Northeast. Once completed, it is estimated to reduce travel times by 90 minutes.
The Long Bridge Project received $729 million to construct a new two-track rail bridge over the Potomac River, expanding rail capacity between Washington and Richmond. Nearly 6 million passengers travel over the existing bridge each year on Amtrak and the Virginia Railway Express. The new bridge will reduce congestion on the corridor.
Other key projects include upgrades to Chicago’s Union Station, extending services west of Philadelphia to Pittsburgh; connecting Boston to Brunswick, Maine; improvements in Montana; and replacing a rail bridge in Alaska.
Separately, the administration released $34.5 million through the Corridor Identification and Development program for improvements on 69 corridors in 44 states. The projects include connections between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New York City; Fort Collins and Pueblo, Colorado; Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver, Canada; and Charlotte and Atlanta.
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