Rail Passengers Issues Transportation Funding Request for FY27

As Congress prepares to take up spending bills for the upcoming year, Rail Passengers Association is calling on Congress to fund rail programs at the levels authorized in the expiring surface transportation law.

Congressional committees are currently drafting the bill that will succeed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a historic piece of legislation that sought to close the investment gap for America's passenger rail system. Until this the new law is enacted, Rail Passengers believes it is critical for Congressional appropriators to continue supporting these programs.

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These IIJA-funded upgrades to the U.S. rail network are even more important in light of the recent energy shock, which has underscored the vulnerability of American families and the economy to volatile oil prices. Passenger rail and transit are extremely energy efficient forms of transportation, moving people using significantly less energy per passenger mile than automobiles or airplanes. Expand access to trains gives travelers an affordable, energy efficient alternative; helps reduce exposure to fuel price spikes; and strengthens national energy security.

In a letter to the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, House and Urban Development leadership, Rail Passengers' President & CEO Jim Mathews highlighted the need for continuity in policy across both annual funding cycles and multi-year transportation bills:

"Congress took a historic step with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), launching long-overdue investments in passenger rail and beginning the process of rebuilding a national rail network suited to the needs of a growing, increasingly mobile nation. Corridor development, station improvements, fleet modernization, and expanded service planning initiated by States and regional governments under IIJA are already delivering tangible benefits to communities across the country.

"However, many of these efforts remain at an early and vulnerable stage. In the interim period between the expiration of IIJA authorization and the replacement surface transportation reauthorization, the Rail Passengers Association is encouraging Congress to sustain these levels of investment in rail and transit to enable local governments to continue this critical work. Predictable funding levels are essential to ensure that these projects reach completion and deliver the reliable, frequent, and connected rail service Congress intended."

You can read the full letter here.