FRA Sends Long Distance Study to Congress

FRA sends Amtrak long-distance service study to Congress. In the report, the FRA prioritizes 15 new long-distance routes and calls for restoration of Amtrak's daily service on its Cardinal and Sunset Limited routes. The FRA worked on the study from 2022 to 2024, during which time it received over 50,000 stakeholder and public comments that indicated overwhelming support for long-distance services or passenger rail in general, the report states. The final report also recommends consideration of a new long-distance committee made up of stakeholders from across the country — including host railroads, states and communities served by Amtrak long-distance routes, Amtrak and the FRA — that could serve as a forum for feedback and discussion related to current Amtrak long-distance service. https://www.progressiverailroading.com/amtrak/news/FRA-sends-Amtrak-long-distance-service-study-to-Congress--73711

If the government funded these Amtrak routes, 39 million more people would have rail access. A new map, as part of a recent Federal Railroad Administration study, shows what the country could look like if 15 additional long-distance routes were added. With those rail lines, previously stranded regions of the country are suddenly connected with bright lines representing passenger rail. They would make the country’s rail network considerably fuller and would bring rail service to all of the lower 48 states. These 15 potential new Amtrak routes would add more than 23,000 rail miles to the system, serve more than 60 new metropolitan areas, and provide rail access to 39 million people that currently don’t have it. https://www.fastcompany.com/91266350/this-map-shows-how-good-amtrak-could-be-if-only-the-government-would-pay