Little of Joe Biden’s legacy has survived President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
But if there’s one area where the two men’s policies have overlapped, it’s the need to expand passenger rail outside the Northeast.
During his four years in office, Biden led efforts to boost rail service across the United States, which he viewed as a climate-friendly alternative to cars and air travel.
Biden bragged about riding a million miles on Amtrak, the national passenger rail company. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, his administration injected $1.7 billion into Amtrak to make up for lost revenue. And Biden helped pass the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021, which included $22 billion for Amtrak over five years and $36 billion for intercity passenger rail.
