President Biden Touts Amtrak’s Low Climate Impact on the Railway’s 50th Anniversary
Photo Credit: A test run of a pre-production Acela trainset on a line crossing High Bridge, a 1904 stone arch bridge at Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Amtrak
Skift Take
U.S. lawmakers have been alarmingly indifferent about infrastructure for years. The pandemic appears to have provided the political will to change that, but the climate crisis is also a factor. The president used Amtrak Friday to make his case.
U.S. President Joe Biden traveled to Philadelphia on Friday to celebrate Amtrak on the eve of the U.S. passenger railroad's 50th anniversary on May 1.
While he was a U.S. senator for Delaware, Biden commuted daily more than 1 million miles on Amtrak between D.C. and his home in Wilmington. On Friday, though, the president flew to Philadelphia because of security concerns.
The president reaffirmed his faith in rail travel's overall benefit as a way to reduce the U.S. transportation sector's greenhouse gas emissions, playing up what he called the lower climate impact of trains and projected economic benefit.
"When I think about fighting climate change, I think of expanding rail, which will also bring jobs," said President Biden, speaking at William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. "Rail travel has an incredibly positive impact on the environment. We have a huge opportunity to provide fast, safe, reliable, clean transportation."
[caption id="attachment_427111"
