Commuters and other travelers along America’s busiest stretch of passenger railway have faced a nightmare summer of heat-related delays and cancellations that have caused headaches for Democrats and complicated the transit legacy of a president nicknamed “Amtrak Joe.”
Record heat has exposed long-standing physical problems along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Virginia that highlight the need for planned improvements that would get a big boost from the bipartisan infrastructure law while leaving officials without immediate answers for outraged constituents.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a potential 2025 gubernatorial candidate and lead negotiator for the landmark infrastructure law. “People are going to lose faith in the transportation system. It just ups the urgency of investing and addressing these issues.”
This summer’s struggles are threatening to derail Amtrak’s post-Covid-19 rebound, which has seen Northeast Corridor ridership exceed pre-pandemic levels and spurred expansion plans aimed at doubling overall ridership by 2040. But they’ve also raised questions about the rail system operator’s ability to balance growth ambitions with the need to upgrade and maintain existing service at a time when climate goals depend on getting people out of polluting cars.