President-elect Joe Biden said he was “heartened” by the compromise in Congress, noting it was “a first step and down payment on more action that we’ll need to take early in the new year to revive the economy and contain the pandemic.”
Addressing the dire financial needs of transit agencies and helping to keep their systems running is what this round of funding will attempt to do. New York MTA, for instance, will receive $4 billion, allowing it to avert drastic service cuts of up to 50% and layoffs of some 9,400 in 2021. It still faces deficits in subsequent years.
The $25 billion of appropriated CARES Act funds for public transportation can only go so far. As of Dec. 3, 2020, public transit agencies had obligated 94% of those funds through 763 grants totaling nearly $23.5 billion; 59% of these funds had been fully expended, according to the Federal Transit Administration.
Passenger Rail Outlook: Building Back Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
RAILWAY AGE, JANUARY 2021 ISSUE: First, getting through the pandemic then, building a new normal. Amid uncertainty, there is cautious optimism for passenger rail in 2021. That was the general consensus of industry experts Railway Age interviewed in December.
President-elect Joe Biden said he was “heartened” by the compromise in Congress, noting it was “a first step and down payment on more action that we’ll need to take early in the new year to revive the economy and contain the pandemic.”
Addressing the dire financial needs of transit agencies and helping to keep their systems running is what this round of funding will attempt to do. New York MTA, for instance, will receive $4 billion, allowing it to avert drastic service cuts of up to 50% and layoffs of some 9,400 in 2021. It still faces deficits in subsequent years.
December 19, 2020
Commuter Rail Coalition on Access, Capacity and Public Convenience and Necessity: Rail Group On Air Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
Jim Derwinski, Commuter Rail Coalition Chair and CEO/Executive Director, Metra; John Cline, CRC Government Affairs Director and Principal, Cline Strategic Consulting;Chuck Spitulnik, CRC Counsel and Partner, Kaplan Kirsch Rockwell; and KellyAnne Gallagher, CRC Executive Director, discuss access, capacity, and public convenience and necessity issues of importance to commuter railroads with
Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono.