Fully in his element on Monday, President Joe Biden announced more than $16 billion in funding to update infrastructure and advance projects on Amtrak’s heavily-traveled Northeast corridor with the goal of drastically improving his preferred method of transportation for more than three decades. 

“As senator I rode the train back and forth between Washington and Wilmington virtually every day for 36 years when I got elected. And then as vice president as well,” Biden said. “Amtrak wasn't just a way to get home to family. The conductors and engineers became my family.”

The president traveled less than 15 miles from his home city of Wilmington to Bear, Delaware to make the announcement at a train maintenance shop. 

“I've been fighting for this for a long time: to invest in Americans, not just America,” the president said on Monday. “There's no better place to make this announcement than in my home state of Delaware.”

The $16.4 billion comes from the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure law Congress passed and Biden signed two years ago this month. The funds will go to 25 passenger rail projects between Boston and Washington to update bridges, tunnels and tracks and advance projects, all with the promise it will increase train speeds and reduce delays. In total, the White House says Amtrak will receive about $66 billion from the law. 

“When I talk about how badly the Northeast corridor needs upgrades – you don't need to tell me. I've lived it,” Biden said. 

As part of Monday’s announcement, the Gateway Hudson River Tunnel will receive $3.8 billion to update and expand the tunnel between New York and New Jersey; the Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Maryland will receive $4.7 billion for the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which the White House says will increase speeds from 30 mph to 110 mph; the Susquehanna River Bridge, also in Maryland, will get $2.1 billion for two new track spans, increasing speeds from 90 mph to 125 mph; Penn Station Access in New York will get $1.6 billion for upgrades that the administration says will reduce transit time between the Bronx and Manhattan by as much as 50 minutes; and the Connecticut River Bridge will receive $827 million for a new bridge. 

The funding will also advance two research studies seeking to speed up the train trip between Washington and New York City as well as Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

“How can you be the leading country in the world and have a second-rate infrastructure?” Biden asked. “It’s not possible.” 

The president highlighted the significance of Amtrak’s Northeast corridor – the region in which Monday’s investments are directed – noting more than “2,200 trains run on this corridor every single day, serving 800,000 passengers.”  

“It’s the busiest rail corridor in the United States and one of the busiest in the world,” he said, adding if the line were to shut down, it would cost the American economy $100 million a day. 

It comes amid controversy on the balance of representation on Amtrak’s Board of Directors. For months, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and some Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee have protested the advancement of Biden’s nominees to the board due to what they say is a lack of geographical diversity. 

Five of six of the president’s choices for the board hail from the Northeast corridor. Tester argues a requirement in the bipartisan infrastructure act that he helped secure mandates that only four members of the board can be from states within the Northeast corridor. 

Last month, Tester announced the White House agreed to pull one of its nominees to replace that person with someone from outside the Northeast, with the senator’s team telling Spectrum News he received a pledge from the White House that one will be withdrawn. A White House official told Spectrum News there was no update to share right now. 

Asked about the representation on the board during an interview with Spectrum News last month, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called geographic diversity and fair distribution a "core principle" of the administration's work on infrastructure. 

"I recently spoke with Sen. Tester about projects he feels that Montana needs," Buttigieg said, adding "we're really excited about what we can do together and and I know that there continues to be discussion about how to make sure that that's reflected in the appointments." 

Meanwhile, the president also used Monday’s announcement to criticize proposed cuts to Amtrak in House Republicans’ transportation spending bill. 

“We're trying to make train travel easier, faster, safer, more reliable. They're trying to make it slower, harder and less safe,” Biden said. 

“We're not gonna let them stop the progress we're making. And I promise you that,” he added.