After marking a signficant milestone – 100 days in office – President Joe Biden helped one of his favorite transportation services observe a landmark occasion of its own.
President Biden spoke in Philadelphia on Friday to mark Amtrak's 50th anniversary, which comes amid his push to sell his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan, to the public.
"Amtrak wasn't just a way getting home. It provided me, and I'm not joking, an entire other family, a community dedicated and professional and that shared milestones in my life," Biden said, wearing a blue baseball cap, in remarks from the city's 30th Street Station, where he was joined by two of his granddaughters.
"I believe that the best days of Amtrak and of rail in America are ahead, I really believe that," he said, highlighting how his proposed infrastructure plan would benefit railways and create jobs. "And I'm just confident, I'm confident we can get this done."
The president was introduced on Friday by Amtrak conductor Blake Weaver, who worked the president's route when he was a regular passenger.
"He always made time for both the passengers and the employees. He also treated everyone like they were family," Weaver said. "I'd like to thank you for all the miles you added up over the years. I'd like to thank you for being part of the Amtrak family. I would like thank you for being part of my family."
Biden spoke nearby the newest iteration of the Acela train on display.
The president recounted a time on his birthday when he was stuck in D.C. for Senate votes, even though his daughter was urging him to get home to blow out the candles on the cake she made him. Biden said he took a 5 P.M. train just to get there, blow out his candles and turn back around.
"My daughter had the cake candle lit, I blew them out, they gave me a kiss, I walked across and got on the southbound," Biden remembered.
He also noted that an Amtrak employee once told him he'd traveled more than 1.5 million miles on the company's trains, despite flak that the then-Vice President was getting for traveling many miles on Air Force One at the time.
Friday's trip is Biden's third to his birth state since taking office; Pennsylvania proved to be a critical state to his victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 election, a longtime Democratic stronghold that Trump flipped in 2016, but Biden won back in November.
The visit is part of what the White House is calling the "Get America Back on Track Tour," as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hit the road to sell the infrastructure proposal – Harris appeared in Cincinnati alongside the state's Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Amtrak stands to benefit from Biden's infrastructure plan, which would provide $80 billion to the rail line. The company said earlier this month that the funding would bring the Northeast Corridor (NEC), a crucial rail line for America's northeast cities, upgraded service and improve trip times, allow Amtrak to operate underserved communities, and "create jobs, improve the quality of life, reduce carbon emissions and generate economic growth."
"President Biden’s infrastructure plan is what this nation has been waiting for," Amtrak's CEO Bill Flynn said in a statement earlier this month. "Amtrak has a bold vision to bring energy-efficient, world-class intercity rail service to up to 160 new communities across the nation, as we also invest in our fleet and stations across the U.S."
The new train network would create over 30 new routes in 15 states, as well as add more than 20 existing routes with more trips, connecting up to 160 more communities and allowing the company to serve 20 million more passengers than the 32 million served in the 2019 fiscal year, according to Amtrak.
New proposed services include routes in Wisconsin, routes throughout the South, and a revamped Texas network. During his successful presidential campaign, Biden ran on sparking "the second great railroad revolution to propel our nation's infrastructure into the future and help solve the climate emergency."
Biden is a known train enthusiast, estimating that he has made 7,000 round trips on Amtrak between Washington, D.C. and Wilmington, Del. over the years. Biden began making the Amtrak commute every day shortly after becoming a Senator in 1972, after his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident, so he could be home to take care of his two sons Hunter and Beau.
Over the decades, Biden famously became friends with Amtrak employees and passengers, and became a fierce advocate for the country's railway system, including facilitating a $2.45 billion federal loan to help Amtrak fix its aging infrastructure and buy new trains.
"He knew just about everybody that worked in the station and the conductors and other people and Amtrak folks who were on the train for those many, many years that he rode the rail," Flynn said recently of Biden. "He regularly engaged with them and knew quite a bit about them, and I think that’s why he was anxious or willing to be part of our 50th anniversary."
Biden and then-President-elect Obama rode Amtrak to Obama's inauguration in 2009, and Biden rode the train back to Delaware from Washington after the inauguration of President Trump.
The "Biden Express" carried the then-Senator and his family from Delaware to Washington, D.C. after Biden announced his candidacy for president in 1987.
In 2011, the Wilmington Amtrak station was renamed "Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station."
Biden also took part in a "Build Back Better Express" train tour in Sept. 2020 in the leadup to the 2020 presidential election as part of his successful presidential campaign.