Infrastructure and Transportation

Passenger trains and Amtrak

40 public statements from 2026 candidates

§1The range of views

Why this matters: Train funding affects how people can travel between cities and how much taxpayers spend to build and run the service.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

How much federal money goes to passenger trains, including Amtrak's routes and new high-speed rail projects.

  1. Expand funding for passenger rail, including new high-speed lines
  2. Fund repairs and current routes, without major new lines
  3. Cut federal rail funding or move Amtrak toward private operation

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Expand funding for passenger rail, including new high-speed lines (15)

  • Scott Wiener CA-11
    His campaign website says he would establish dedicated funding to build a national high-speed rail network and clearly authorize Amtrak to fund state-supported routes.1
  • Ro Khanna CA-17
    His campaign website says he would expand public transportation, including high-speed rail and light rail.2
  • Jim Costa CA-21
    His campaign website says he wrote legislation to invest in high-speed rail and secured $3.3 billion for California's high-speed rail project, and lists federal high-speed rail funding bills he sponsored that became law.3,4
  • Drew Cox IN-4
    His campaign website says he will push for legislation reviving federal employment programs for the 21st century, with projects such as developing high-speed rail and public transit in cities.5
  • André Carson IN-7
    His campaign website says he is a strong supporter of high-speed rail and of maintaining and expanding conventional passenger rail capacity, and has long advocated for Amtrak.6
  • John "Drew" Williams KY-1
    His campaign website proposes constructing dedicated high-speed rail lines connecting major metropolitan regions and modernizing existing rail corridors for regional passenger service.7
  • Edward J. Markey MA Senate
    His campaign website says he is fighting to expand public transit and passenger rail.8
  • Richard E. Neal MA-1
    His campaign website says he has championed improving and expanding passenger rail service between Pittsfield, Springfield, Worcester and Boston, and lists $108 million in federal funding for East-West Rail among his accomplishments.9
  • Alani Bankhead MT Senate
    Her campaign website says she would bring passenger rail back across southern Montana on the North Coast Hiawatha route.10
  • Valerie P. Foushee NC-4
    Her campaign website says she has advocated for more investment in passenger rail, and says she secured a $1 billion federal transportation grant in December 2023 for intercity passenger rail service between Raleigh and Richmond.11
  • Chris Henry OR Senate
    His platform calls for expanding passenger and freight rail, with electrified track to replace diesel engines.12
  • Walid Hakim SC Governor
    His platform proposes high-speed rail connecting South Carolina's major cities, along with free, solar-powered public buses.13
  • Andrew Gerena TN Senate
    His campaign website calls for building high-speed passenger rail across the country.14
  • Catherine Barcel "Barcy" Whitson TN Senate
    Her campaign website calls for mass transit connecting Tennessee's cities and for reviving a bullet train between Chattanooga and Atlanta.15
  • Jerri Green TN Governor
    Her platform calls for prioritizing passenger rail across the state to connect its major cities.16

Cut federal rail funding or move Amtrak toward private operation (3)

  • Tom McClintock CA-5
    His campaign website says he opposes spending any federal money on California's high-speed rail project, and includes a 2015 House floor speech for his amendment to end taxpayer subsidies for Amtrak, under which Amtrak could keep running its Northeast Corridor from its own earnings.17,18
  • Christopher Mitchell CO-5
    His campaign website names Amtrak among the government-subsidized programs he would introduce legislation to eliminate.19
  • Chris Dardzinski MI-13
    His campaign website lists Amtrak among the independent agencies to eliminate.20

Statements that don't match one option (22)

  • Peter Sundin Soulé CA-16
    His campaign website says he would work to end federal funding for California's high-speed rail project.21
  • David G. Valadao CA-22
    His campaign website says he strongly opposes building California's high-speed rail system, which it calls a wasteful project that will cost taxpayers billions.22
  • Scott Alan Meyers CA-30
    His campaign website says he would use federal leverage to force accountability for California's high-speed rail project.23
  • Norma J. Torres CA-35
    Her campaign website says she voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which it says is bringing high-speed rail from Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas.24
  • Jim Himes CT-4
    His campaign website says he fought to deliver more than $348 million to replace the Walk Bridge and repair other aging Metro-North railroad bridges in Norwalk.25
  • Benjamin Wesley CT-4
    His campaign website says he would introduce legislation encouraging Connecticut's military contractors to diversify into civilian work, and proposes that Connecticut become the nation's leader in maglev trains, with short lines between Hartford and New Haven, Hartford and Storrs, and New Haven and Stamford.26
  • Darren Soto FL-9
    His campaign website says he is working to connect SunRail and Brightline to Orlando International Airport, the theme parks and eventually Tampa.27
  • Kimberly Overman FL-12
    Her campaign platform says she supports serious evaluation of commuter rail service on existing rail corridors where it makes sense.28
  • Frank J. Mrvan IN-1
    His campaign website says he supported the more than $1 billion expansion and extension of the South Shore Passenger Rail Line.29
  • Bill Keating MA-9
    His campaign website lists passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law among his accomplishments and says the law makes the biggest investment in passenger rail and public transit since Amtrak was created.30
  • Moshe Y. Landman MD-6
    His campaign website lists reinvesting in the national rail network among its transportation proposals.31
  • Ilhan Omar MN-5
    The same page counts connecting communities by high-speed rail among the benefits it expects from modern infrastructure.32
  • Deborah K. Ross NC-2
    Her campaign infrastructure page lists among her accomplishments a U.S. Department of Transportation grant she helped win for new passenger rail service linking Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia.33
  • Dan Osborn NE Senate
    His campaign website says he would work to connect Nebraska further to the national Amtrak system.34
  • Rebecca Bennett NJ-7
    The same one-pager lists improving NJ Transit passenger rail and delivering a one-seat ride, and says she will fight to make sure New Jersey gets all the funding it is owed so the Gateway tunnel project stays on track; her economy priorities page also lists investing in the Gateway Tunnel.35,36
  • Rob Menendez NJ-8
    The same page lists securing continued funding and federal support for the Gateway Program, which it says would replace century-old bridges and tunnels on the Northeast Corridor, and says $4 billion from the Federal Railroad Administration has been secured for that corridor.37
  • Analilia Mejia NJ-11
    Her campaign issues page says she would work to bring back funding for the Gateway Tunnel and to win more federal money for NJ Transit.38
  • Joe Hathaway NJ-11
    His campaign platform says he would fight to see the Gateway Tunnel fully funded, supports more One Seat Ride service connecting the district with New York City, and says existing rail infrastructure should be modernized before building entirely new systems, alongside targeted commuter rail expansion.39
  • Alan B. Bond NJ-11
    His campaign story on transportation lists reliable rail infrastructure among the basic responsibilities to prioritize, together with safe bridges, maintained roads and working signals and equipment.40
  • Deb Haaland NM Governor
    Her affordability plan says she would extend the Rail Runner train to more cities, lengthen its operating hours and make train service free for students.41
  • Lauren Pinkston TN Governor
    Her campaign website supports exploring a statewide passenger rail system connecting Memphis to Bristol and Nashville to Chattanooga.42
  • Dave Seeman TN Governor
    His campaign website calls for a feasibility study of large-scale passenger rail.43