One third of stations and vehicles on the seven largest transit-rail systems in the US – Chicago, Boston, New York City, New Jersey, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington DC – are less than adequate, according to a survey released recently.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) survey has since led the FTA to recommend a new temporary funding program for the nation's rail and better funding structures for future upgrades and repairs.
llinois Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin says he is drafting a legislation that can be considered under the next surface transportation bill as a result of the report.
He has accused the US Federal Government of under funding the rail system by $5.9bn annually, despite the Chicago Transit Authority and Metra nearly investing $6bn in state-of-good repair needs.
The survey showed that in the past 15 years the agencies involved noticed a significant decrease from 90% to 70% in federal rail modernisation funds
Up to $50bn will be required to bring the system back to state of good repair.
