Bills to Expand Illinois Railway Program Announced Illinois has always been at the heart of America’s rail network, and it is uniquely poised to lead the country towards great trains. Because of its political heft and Chicago’s role as the nation’s rail hub, a growing...
President Trump promised “a golden age.” Here’s the transportation agenda to make it happen.
Amtrak just set a ridership record by carrying 32.8 million passengers last year. (The previous record was 32 million people in 2019.) Brightline West is building North America’s first true high-speed line, and new Acela trains are set to begin running this spring in the Northeast Corridor, giving many Americans their first experience of world-class train travel. It’s a breakthrough moment for US passenger rail.
Throughout his campaign, President Trump focused on building the economy by “onshoring” industry and investing in a stronger US manufacturing sector. In his inaugural address, he promised a new “golden age” for America. The administration’s new Secretary of Transportation—Sean Duffy, confirmed by the Senate this week—can help deliver on these promises by leveraging the strong momentum for quality US passenger rail.
Here’s a four-part agenda to make it happen:
- Order more trains, build the supply chain, and grow the economy.
- Help get at least one true high-speed line running this decade.
- Pursue an all-in program of bridge building and repair.
- Launch an aggressive program to improve highway-rail grade-crossing safety.
Build the supply chain and grow the economy
Trains have an immense impact on the economy. One recent study, for example, found that the railway-supply industry contributed more than $75 billion to the national GDP in 2020, which is similar to the GDP of states like Maine ($65 billion) and New Hampshire ($83 billion). The industry also created nearly 700,000 jobs at an average pay of more than $91,000. (The study defined the industry as “companies that produce rail cars and locomotives as well as rail infrastructure assets such as signals, rail ties and railway maintenance equipment” for both freight and passenger rail.)
A separate study found that public transportation is a $79 billion industry, directly employing more than 430,000 people while supporting millions more private-sector manufacturing jobs. For example, a trainset’s lighting systems alone have components manufactured in 13 states. The electrical systems have components made in 14 states. And on it goes. Red states, blue states, and swing states alike benefit from not only trains but train manufacturing and the vast supply chain supporting it.
Alstom is one good example. It’s manufacturing Acela’s new trainsets in Hornell, New York. An advocacy group for Hornell estimated that the Alstom presence there had driven more than $200 million in public and private investments benefitting “this community of 8,000 people who exemplify the soul of America.” Alstom has partnered with 170 suppliers across 27 states to build the trains, for a total investment of nearly $600 million. Small businesses received about 40% of that total.
Or consider Siemens Mobility and Cummins Engine. Siemens, which also builds trainsets for Amtrak, has 2,000 US-based suppliers and employs more than 4,500 people across its eight US facilities. It’s currently building a $220 million advanced manufacturing and rail services facility in Lexington, North Carolina. Meanwhile, Cummins is one of Siemens’ key suppliers. It’s a cutting-edge engine company based in Columbus, Indiana, about thirty miles south of Indianapolis. Although best known for building truck engines, Cummins is also at the leading edge of developing new train technologies. For example, it partnered with Alstom to develop hydrogen fuel cells, which are about three times more efficient than internal combustion engines. They’re especially promising for rural rail lines where electrification is currently impractical.

A Siemens Charger locomotive operating on a test track.
Help get a true high-speed rail line running in this decade.
The most powerful lever for ramping up the railway supply chain is by supporting Brightline West’s high-speed line, now under construction from Las Vegas to the outskirts of LA. The lessons learned and the expertise gained there (and from Brightline’s Florida line) can be adapted and applied in regions now planning their own high-speed lines. The Department of Transportation will help build a more vibrant American economy overall by being a proactive partner in the project.

Brightline West broke ground in 2024
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Launch an aggressive program to improve highway-rail grade crossing safety
Railway overpasses and underpasses—i.e., grade separation—eliminate both the threat of collisions and the need for trains to slow down or stop at highway crossings. They should be high priority in the railway bridge building-and-repair program. But state DOTs and the US DOT have plenty of other tools to improve safety. Illinois, for example, has been steadily reducing the number of collisions at public-highway-rail crossings—from 123 in 2022 to 90 in 2023. Fatalities declined from 28 to 18. And the state plans to invest $410 million in crossing safety from 2025 to 2029. The money will go toward 22 bridge projects and nearly 1,300 grade-crossing improvement projects. The upgrades include better lighting, better gates and warning devices, and separation of pedestrian crossings from rail tracks. North Carolina is another good model. Its Sealed Corridor program focuses on both grade separation and improving safety throughout the Charlotte-Raleigh corridor. An analysis by the US DOT found that safety improvements to 189 crossings in the corridor between 1995 and 2004 had saved at least 19 lives.

The Chicago – St. Louis Corridor provides a great example of reducing highway grade crossing fatalities.
Go all-in on bridge building-and-repair
America’s bridges are in bad shape generally. Railway bridges are in particularly bad condition. For example, an engineering firm recently inspected 20 short rail bridges in the Pittsburgh area and found that 11 were in either poor or serious condition. Similarly, a 2023 inspection of 25 bridges in Binghamton, New York, found 12 to be in “deplorable” condition. The Wall Street Journal observed recently that “there are more than 70,000 railroad bridges in the U.S. and many of the steel, concrete or timber bridges are showing their age. The structures—some of which were built in the 1800s—play a critical role in the movement of freight nationwide.” Since most passenger-rail lines in the US share tracks with freight trains, a program of rail bridge repair and construction could be a powerful economic “twofer.” It will boost the speed and improve the safety of both freight and passenger trains.

The critical Norfolk Southern bridge over the Calumet river was built in 1912.
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