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Amtrak is a National Railroad Passenger Corporation that provides both medium and long distance services for intercity passengers traveling within the United States. The Federal Government is lending the sum of $2.45 billion to Amtrak to enable it acquire new trains, upgrade tracks, and make improvements to its Northeast Platform. This was made public on Friday.

Vice President Joe Biden used Amtrak trains during his three decades in the Senate. The Vice President said trains are important to make the country work efficiently and is a sound investment. During the announcement, Amtrak said the loan would be paid back from the profit it gets from the Northeast Corridor operations.

The terms of the loan have not been made available to the public. The loan would be used as follows; $2 billion for 28 new trains, $170 million would be used to improve facilities in New York, Washington, and Maryland. However, $90 million and $80 million would be used to enhance safety and improve track infrastructure.

The new set of trains would travel at 160mph. Sen. Chris Coons who is currently occupying the seat held by Joe Biden in his days in the Senate said the loan was timely. He is also a frequent user of Amtrak.

Amtrak currently needs about $7 billion to carry out maintenance. Biden in his statement stated the importance of the rail system and added that Amtrak ought to do as well as other rail systems in Europe and Asia. It’s anticipated that the population of the Northeast Corridor would be about 58 million by 2040. Biden further said that the rail system is very essential for the growth of commerce and will reduce the rate of unemployment in the country. Alstom has been contracted to build the new trains.