The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recently announced that it has awarded $8.2 billion for 10 passenger rail projects across the country while announcing corridor planning activities that will impact every region nationwide.

This unprecedented investment in America’s nationwide intercity passenger rail network builds on a $16.4 billion investment announced last month for 25 projects of national significance along America’s busiest rail corridor.

Projects announced through the Federal State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail (Fed-State National) Program will advance two high-speed rail corridors and fund improvements to existing rail corridors for expanded service and performance.

These investments will:

Help deliver high-speed rail service in California’s Central Valley;

Create a brand-new high-speed rail corridor between Las Vegas, Nevada, and southern California, serving an estimated 11 million passengers annually;

Make major upgrades to existing conventional rail corridors to better connect Northern Virginia and the Southeast with the Northeast Corridor;

Expand and add frequencies to the Pennsylvania Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh;

Extend the Piedmont Corridor in North Carolina north, as part of a higher-speed connection between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia;

Invest in Chicago Union Station, as an initial step toward future improvements to the critical Midwest corridors hub;

Improve service in Maine, Montana, and Alaska.

“The Biden-Harris Administration takes another historic step to deliver the passenger rail system that Americans have been calling for – with $8.2 billion for faster, more reliable, expanded train service across the country,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With this funding, we’ll deliver America’s first high-speed rail on a route between Southern California and Las Vegas, complete major upgrades for riders in Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine, Montana, and Alaska, and announce a comprehensive plan that makes it easier to expand passenger rail lines in 44 states.”

At the same time, FRA is announcing 69 corridor selections across 44 states through the Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program, which will drive future passenger rail expansion.

Corridor ID, a new planning program made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help guide intercity passenger rail development throughout the country. This inaugural round of selections aims to upgrade 15 existing rail routes, add or extend service on 47 new routes, and advance seven new high-speed rail projects, creating a pipeline of intercity passenger rail projects ready for implementation and future investment. FRA will work closely with states, transportation agencies, host and operating railroads, and local governments to develop and build passenger rail projects faster than ever before.

Examples of planning and development activities selected through the Corridor ID program include, among many others, expanded connections and increased frequencies within California’s extensive conventional rail network and new high-speed rail service in the Cascadia High-Speed Rail Corridor between Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.