USA passenger railroad Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner will testify on June 6 before a U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroads subcommittee, a spokeswoman for the panel said on Wednesday, as traffic rebounds after a pandemic-driven dip.
Gardner and Northeast Corridor Commission Executive Director Mitch Warren will testify at a hearing on Amtrak operations examining the challenges and opportunities for improving efficiency and service.
Traffic on the busy Northeast Corridor connecting Boston and Washington increased more than doubled in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30 to 9.2 million passengers.
Amtrak is planning to expand significantly across the United States and add up to 39 corridor routes by 2035, and expect to hire 3,100 workers by the end of the year. It's also modernizing major railway stations and building crucial infrastructure.
In November 2021, Congress approved $22 billion for Amtrak as part of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The Biden administration in March sought $3.1 billion of annual funding for Amtrak in the 2020 budget year, on top of $4.4 billion of funding for the railroad to receive from the infrastructure law. It is also seeking $700 million to finance the construction of a key New York Hudson River tunnel.
Aging infrastructure is causing Amtrak to run trains at higher speeds along the Boston-to-Washington corridor.
In November, Amtrak said ridership has skyrocketed by more than 10 million passengers in the year ending Sept. 30 and has nearly returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. Amtrak said ridership rose 89% over 2021 to 22.9 million passengers, up 10.8 million from the previous year.
In the last six months of the 2022 budget year, overall ridership hit about 85% of pre-COVID levels, Amtrak said, adding that passengers and revenue would rise above 90% of pre-COVID levels by September 2023.