A New Era for US Passenger Rail? With Robert Puentes

This week, The Buzz is joined once again by Robert Puentes, President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation. Last time, we talked about some of the challenges facing American aviation and the FAA.  The intervening weeks have magnified some of this as Boeing, under scrutiny for a series of engineering failures, has started seeing some serious turnover in upper management and a slew of promises to shape up.

So maybe now is a good time to examine a different transportation mode for your next vacation or long-distance trip. American regional rail, once among the best in the world, has spent the last 100 years shriveling up into a fractured network that captures only 33 million passengers annually (barely 1/30th of US airlines).  But that may be changing. Amtrak gained nearly 25% more passengers from 2022 to 2023, and billions of dollars of federal money are flowing into rail projects all over the country, courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act and 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.

With all this momentum, perhaps a new age in American rail is upon us? We discuss the past, present and future of rail travel this week on The Buzz.

More from the Eno Center: https://enotrans.org/issues-and-modes/railroads/
More on Permitting and Planning Challenges: The Green Transition Dilemma with James Salzman and J.B. Ruhl

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Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound