The Obama administration has stuck by its pledge to secure funding for Amtrak, although efforts to pursue "reform" — however that is defined — are not yet evident.
 
On March 13, 2009, Vice President Joe Biden announced that Amtrak will receive $1.3 billion in funding from the economic stimulus package. The funds are aimed at expanding passenger rail capacity. As of this writing, the Federal Railroad Administration says it has approved $1.1 billion for Amtrak projects under this program, with 73 projects under way.
 
"We are investing in jobs that will allow Amtrak to add and modernize cars and engines and upgrade its tracks," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on March 13. Stimulus funding will roughly double the size of Amtrak"s capital investment program over a two-year period, the department said. The projects range from replacement of a drawbridge on the northeast corridor route, repairs to Amtrak facilities, improvements to the electrification system on the northeast corridor, and the return to service of dozens of passenger cars (the first of which rolled off the line at Bear, Del., on July 13, 2009).
 
The funding from the stimulus comes on top of a subsidy increase provided under the president's proposed budget for fiscal year 2010. Amtrak had sought $1.84 billion from the federal government for fiscal 2010, but the president offered $1.5 billion. That's still better than the previous proposal by then-President George W. Bush, who proposed an $800 million cut.
 
This promise would have rated as a Promise Kept had we discovered any evidence of the administration pursuing reforms of Amtrak. A reauthorization bill enacted last fall under George W. Bush's administration included provisions for Amtrak reforms, and experts suggested that new reform proposals by the Obama administration could wait until the next reauthorization bill. Until such efforts materialize, we'll call this promise In the Works.