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Coalition for the Northeast Corridor Urges Trump Administration to Prioritize Rail Infrastructure Investment
Coalition Calls on Trump to invest in NEC during State of the Union Address
Washington, D.C., January 29, 2018 – The Coalition for the Northeast Corridor – a multi-stakeholder business coalition formed to advocate for increased infrastructure spending specifically on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) – issued the following statement in advance of President Trump’s State of the Union address, urging the President to prioritize rail infrastructure investment in regions of the Nation where it’s most critical, including the NEC:
“President Trump must recognize that commuter railroads operating on the NEC transport a workforce that contributes nearly $50 billion annually to the American economy. Chronic underinvestment not only continues to disrupt and threaten the physical safety of commuters, but it now poses a dire economic threat to the region and its businesses. Now is the time for the President to focus his new infrastructure investment plans on providing sustainable investment in the NEC. With population and economic data projecting significant regional growth in the next 30 years, we urge the Administration to not further delay action.”
On January 17th, members of CNEC sent a letter to the White House, urging the President to ensure that the Corridor’s rail infrastructure receives critical investment in FY 2018 by fully funding the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair – a federally authorized grant program for rail/NEC. In Congress, House appropriators put $500 million the House FY 2018 THUD bill for the program, which was originally authorized in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. However, the Senate included only $26 million.
While the bill for all the NEC state-of-good repair needs is daunting, funding the program will help avoid future failures and secure a sustainable infrastructure for the future. This supports not only the Corridor, but also the entire nation.