Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Administrator Amit Bose and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Regional Administrator Michael Culotta joined Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT (NJT) personnel to see inspections underway along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) to investigate recent service disruptions on the corridor, as well as weather-related incidents that have temporarily reduced reliability for commuters and travelers along key portions of the NEC.

The visit comes as leadership from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), including Secretary Pete Buttigieg, continue to closely monitor the situation.

Focused Inspections

Over the last month, safety personnel from FRA have been supporting Amtrak and NJT and taking part in their focused inspections included in a joint plan announced by the two railroads on June 27 to identify and address the root cause of service outages and disruptions.

While in Morrisville, Pa., directly outside of Trenton, N.J., FRA Administrator Bose and FTA Regional Administrator Culotta viewed Amtrak infrastructure first-hand, joining inspections of catenary wires and visiting one of Amtrak's electrical substations — a critical piece of infrastructure that collects power and routes it to distribution towers, ultimately feeding necessary power into catenary wires, which is picked up by pantographs to power the trains.

While in Trenton, Amtrak demonstrated how inspections are conducted with specific vehicles and tools to ensure catenary systems are maintained.

The FRA Administrator and FTA Regional Administrator also visited a NJ TRANSIT yard in Morrisville, where they looked at NJT equipment, including damaged pantographs under inspection.

Shoring Up NEC Safety

The FRA Administrator and FTA Regional Administrator's visit builds on ongoing work by Amtrak, NJT, and FRA in northeast states to tackle recent service issues and restore and improve reliability for commuters and travelers.

At the same time, USDOT, FRA, and FTA are investing billions along the NEC, reversing decades of federal underinvestment in America’s busiest rail corridor.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, significant, long-term projects are moving forward with funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to modernize the NEC and provide safer, faster, and more reliable service for commuters and travelers.

The funding includes more than $16 billion in FRA Fed State-NEC grants to rebuild tunnels and bridges and upgrade tracks, power systems, signals, stations, and other critical infrastructure to reduce disruptions and delays and improve travel times.

USDOT said it remains committed to supporting near-term and long-term solutions that will provide Americans who depend on NEC the service they deserve.