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Joe Biden botched his big rail investment announcement on Friday, declaring that the federal government would spend “over a billion, three hundred million, trillion, three hundred million dollars.”
The president was in Las Vegas, unveiling $8.2 billion in new federal funding for 10 major passenger rail projects across the country. Among them is a new line from Nevada City to Los Angeles, which when completed – potentially in 2028 – will be able to transport more than 11 million passengers a year, powered entirely by renewable energy.
Biden mocked his predecessor for repeatedly promising Infrastructure Week but failing to deliver.
‘Trump just talks the talk. We stay the course,” Biden said, speaking in a room for union carpenters.
‘He likes to say that the United States is a failed nation. Frankly, he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. I see shovels on the ground, cranes in the sky. People working hard to rebuild America together.”
Joe Biden announced an $8.2 billion investment in railroads on Friday, but stumbled over the sum
But he stumbled over the cost of the project, tripping over millions and billions in his speech.
He also repeated his oft-told story about how often he traveled on Amtrak.
Biden spent years traveling between his Delaware home and Washington, D.C., and recounted how a train crew member told him he had read that Biden reached the million-mile mark on Air Force Two.
But, said the employee, Angelo Negri, they knew he had actually traveled farther on Amtrak.
Biden told the crowd: “He said, ‘Big deal, Joey.’” He said, ‘We just had a retirement dinner in Newark, New Jersey…Do you know how many miles you’ve driven?’
“I said, ‘No, Ang.’
And he said, ‘1,000,327 miles.’ I don’t hear about the Air Force anymore.
“Well, guys, I… I’m a railroad guy, not a joke.”
The story was debunked years ago: the million-mile mark on Air Force Two was not reached until September 2015, and Negri had retired from Amtrak in 1993. Negri died in May 2014, before the mark was reached. .
Biden told the crowd of union employees at a carpentry factory that, unlike Donald Trump, he “walked the walk.”
The technology, which has not yet been seen in the United States, will allow the train to cross the desert in just two hours, instead of the usual four or five. Meanwhile, the cash injection is unprecedented for a private company and comes months after the Florida company requested it.
Biden also used his visit to Las Vegas to address this week’s shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which killed three people and injured a fourth.
Biden again called on Congress to act on the assault weapons ban.
“I will not rest until we do everything we can to prevent more families and more communities from being torn apart by gun violence,” Biden said.
Friday’s trip was planned before the shooting, and Biden’s focus on train service is no surprise for a president who is a big supporter of passenger rail.
Biden has championed several major federal investments in passenger rail travel, including last month when he announced $16 billion in federal investments for rail travel along the busy Northeast Corridor.
Making high-speed rail a reality in California won’t be easy, however, as its first U.S. project has long been plagued by extended deadlines and cost overruns.
Infrastructure could be completed in time for the 2028 Olympics
A rendering of the high-speed train from California to Las Vegas, which will make stops in Rancho Cucamonga, Hesperia, Victor Valley and Las Vegas. It connects to an existing commuter line that extends to Los Angeles.
Travelers will make the trip at speeds of approximately 200 mph, along routes that follow pre-existing roads through the arid Nevada desert.
The plan has been funded by some previous federal grants, as well as a bond fund approved by voters in 2008, and revenue from the state’s cap-and-trade climate program. But that amounts to a total well below the estimated costs of the project, now at more than $100 billion.
California Republicans have long been critical of the project, but even some state Democrats have been more vocal about their skepticism.
Construction and land acquisition is underway in the Central Valley. But Brian Kelly, the project’s executive director, has long said that a new infusion of federal money is an important part of moving the project forward.
The Biden administration had previously signaled support for the project when it restored nearly $1 billion in federal money that the Trump administration tried to revoke.
When asked about the rising costs and growing delays on the high-speed line, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged in a call with reporters: “They face a lot of the challenges that come with being the first to do something.” “.
He added: “For all of these projects, we wouldn’t fund them if we didn’t believe they could deliver.”