By Railfan & Railroad Staff

WASHINGTON — Amtrak would be required to resume daily long-distance passenger train service if Congress passes a new round of COVID-19 funding. This week, the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure released a funding proposal that would include $1.5 billion for Amtrak and $30 billion for transit. 

The new money would be in addition to the $1 billion Amtrak got back in December during the last. The $1.5 billion figure matches what CEO Bill Flynn recently said the passenger railroad needed during Fiscal Year 2021. 

Besides having to resume daily passenger service on all of its long-distance routes, most of which were cut down to tri-weekly last fall, the railroad would have to bring back thousands of employees that were furloughed. 

In a letter to the new Congress last month, Flynn said the passenger railroad needed more funding to stave off additional cuts resulting from the pandemic, but that it not only wanted to resume normal service as soon as possible it wants to expand it and serve new communities.