Archive -- Rail Passengers Webinar Series: A Tale of Two Rail Systems

A Tale of Two Rail Systems: Exploring the Near-Term Crisis in Operations and the Long-Term Potential of Capital Expansion

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With the passage of the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), people across the U.S. are wondering what this generational investment in transportation really means for American passengers.

Simultaneously, Amtrak is finally publicly acknowledging something it’s been grappling with internally for several months: last year’s furloughs and buyouts, combined with a tight U.S. labor market, means there aren’t enough workers to run the trains we have now. There is also concern that more employees may be leaving the railroad over the next few months.

Join us on at 2pm eastern on November 17th as Rail Passengers President & CEO Jim Mathews and VP of Government Affairs & Policy Sean Jeans-Gail will be joined by OneRail Coalition Director Devon Barnhart to explore these two opposing trends:

• We will explain what rail and transit provisions made the cut in the final version of the IIJA and what's next for the reconciliation bill, while looking ahead at the tangible benefits they will produce for America’s rail passengers—in new equipment, new frequencies, and new corridors.
  
• We’ll look also at the potential for near-term service disruptions, ways to minimize those disruptions, steps Amtrak is currently taking to regenerate its workforce, and the projected timeline for the full restoration of pre-pandemic service levels.

(Rail Passengers is a member of OneRail)