Newsletter 5/22/26: Guaranteed Funding for Trains

Tell Congress: Provide Guaranteed Funding for Trains

The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure advanced a surface transportation bill, called the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th (BUILD America 250) Act. The bill determines funding levels for roads, bridges, transit, rail transportation, and highway programs for the next five years.

This version of the surface transportation bill doesn’t provide guaranteed funding for passenger rail. Instead, rail programs would have to fight for funding through the budget process every year. This is a dramatic shift from the IIJA (the last surface transportation bill), which provided about $66 billion for rail over five years.

Passenger rail advocates need to make their voices heard. Take action and ensure there is dedicated funding for trains over the next five years!

Take Action

A map showing an extensive network of buses and trains that would connect to the Central Valley segment of high-speed line.

Why Starting in the Central Valley Is a Great Idea

Even a short segment of high-speed line—planned strategically and with a big-picture view in mind—will have massive ripple-out effects on an entire transportation network. And way beyond.

It not only balloons ridership and lowers costs across the network. It slashes pollution and greenhouse gases, lowers road fatalities and injuries, multiplies opportunities for students and workers, and creates stronger communities and a better overall quality of life for everyone in the corridor.

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