Section 22214 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) directed the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to conduct an Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study to evaluate the restoration of daily intercity rail passenger service along (1) any Amtrak long-distance routes that, as of the date of enactment of the IIJA, were discontinued, and (2) any Amtrak long-distance routes that, as of the date of enactment of the IIJA, occur on a non-daily basis.
The legislation stated that the FRA may also evaluate potential new Amtrak long-distance routes, with specific attention provided to routes in service as of April 1971 but not continued by Amtrak. For potential new routes, IIJA directed FRA to consider whether new Amtrak long-distance routes would:
- link and serve large and small communities as part of a regional rail network,
- advance the economic and social well-being of rural areas of the United States,
- provide enhanced connectivity to the national long-distance passenger rail system,
- and reflect public engagement and local and regional support for restored passenger rail service.
FRA used these considerations to guide the Study’s analyses and select preferred route options for long-distance service restoration, enhancement, and expansion.
FRA worked on the Study from 2022 to 2024, completing the required analyses for the Study and conducting 24 regional working group meetings with stakeholders in 21 cities across the country. The Study received over 50,000 stakeholder and public comments that indicated overwhelming support for long-distance services or passenger rail in general.
Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study – Final Report
Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study – Final Report Appendices
The Long-Distance Study Final Report creates a foundation for further planning of potential future long-distance services by developing or identifying:
- Selected preferred route options for service restoration, enhancement, or expansion.
- A prioritized inventory of certain capital project types.
- Estimated costs and public benefits.
- Recommendations for methods by which Amtrak could work with local communities and organizations to develop activities and programs to continuously improve public use of intercity passenger rail service along each route.
- Potential federal and non-federal funding sources.
The selected preferred route options reflect current travel demand, as well as opportunities to: increase passenger rail access to rural areas and transportation-disadvantaged communities; increase connectivity with existing and future passenger rail services; consider the impacts of previously discontinued long-distance passenger rail service; and address significant stakeholder input. The Final Report includes preferred options for daily passenger rail service on the Cardinal and Sunset Limited routes, as directed by IIJA.
The network of selected preferred route options, if implemented, could provide passenger rail access to 39 million people that don’t currently have access to passenger rail, including 7 million people in rural communities. The network of selected preferred route options, which could serve 34 states, could also increase access to key destinations.
FRA received comments from people across the country who would use these route options to visit family, connect to higher education and job opportunities, get medical treatment, see national parks, and travel to and from military bases and installations. Travelers with disabilities, travelers who are unable to drive, and travelers who are concerned about affordability also submitted comments supporting the network of selected preferred route options.
Potential Benefits of the Network of Selected Preferred Route Options
The Final Report also recommends consideration of a new long-distance committee made up of key stakeholders from across the country (including host railroads, states and communities served by Amtrak long-distance routes, Amtrak, and FRA) that could serve as a forum for feedback and discussion related to current Amtrak long-distance service.
Based on IIJA requirements, the Study focused solely on new or restored Amtrak long-distance services and daily service on the two Amtrak long-distance routes that currently operate with less than daily frequencies (Cardinal and Sunset Limited). It does not include recommendations for restoration or enhancement of state-supported service, the Northeast Corridor (NEC), high-speed rail, or other types of passenger rail service. Beyond the required analyses of the Cardinal and Sunset Limited, this study does not consider service changes to existing Amtrak long-distance routes. The Study is separate from other FRA programs, such as the Corridor Identification and Development Program. More information about the Corridor ID Program is below, in the “Next Steps” section.
This Study is a crucial early step in a comprehensive process to identify the actions that may be needed to enhance long-distance service, and reflects FRA’s diligent work to meet Congressional requirements, as well as significant stakeholder input. The selected preferred route options identified in this Study are conceptual – they are not final recommendations for service, and would require additional review, resources, and stakeholder collaboration after this study is complete to refine projects, costs, funding sources, and other key items needed for implementation. These additional analyses may identify different alignments and variations of the selected preferred route options.
The Final Report recognizes the significant challenges in implementing the selected preferred route options, including – but not limited to – funding and governance of Amtrak long-distance service. Currently, there is no sustained financial support or program to construct or operate the selected preferred route options identified in the Final Report, although some of them may be eligible for additional planning funds through FRA’s Corridor Identification and Development Program, which is a separate program from this Study.
IIJA required the establishment of a new intercity passenger rail corridor planning program to help guide intercity passenger rail development throughout the country, referred to as the Corridor ID Program (49 U.S.C. 25101(a)). As part of the program, FRA works with corridor sponsors to prepare a service development plan for each selected corridor and advance capital projects identified in those plans to ready them for final design and construction. Corridors eligible under the Corridor ID Program include new passenger rail routes of less than 750 miles; the enhancement of existing passenger rail routes under 750 miles; the restoration of service overall or portions of a passenger rail route formerly operated by Amtrak; or the increase of service frequency of a long-distance passenger rail route (49 U.S.C. 25101(h)).
In December 2023, FRA announced the selection of 69 corridors into the Corrdor ID Program. Three long-distance routes identified in this Study were selected into the Corridor ID Program in December 2023, independent of the Study process: Cardinal (increasing service frequency to daily), Sunset Limited (increasing service frequency to daily), and restoration of the North Coast Hiawatha, a discontinued Amtrak route that previously operated between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington, via southern Montana. These routes have access to funding to support project planning and potentially project development activities, although there will still be significant future funding needs to advance these routes further in the FRA project lifecycle. For more information, please visit FRA Corridor ID website at https://railroads.dot.gov/corridor-ID-program
