The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secretary is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States,and is fourteenth in the presidential line of succession.
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation,doing business as Amtrak,is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and track.
The Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor (SEHSR) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from the current southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor in Washington,D.C. Routes would extend south via Richmond and Petersburg,Virginia,with a spur to Norfolk in Virginia's Hampton Roads region;the mainline would continue south to Raleigh,Durham,Greensboro,and Charlotte,North Carolina. Since the corridor was first established in 1992,the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has extended it further to Atlanta and Macon,Georgia;Greenville and Columbia,South Carolina;Jacksonville,Florida;and Birmingham,Alabama.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail safety regulations,administer railroad assistance programs,conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy,provide for the rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor rail passenger service,and consolidate government support of rail transportation activities.
Plans for high-speed rail in the United States date back to the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965. Various state and federal proposals have followed. Despite being one of the world's first countries to get high-speed trains,it failed to spread. Definitions of what constitutes high-speed rail vary,including a range of speeds over 110 mph (180 km/h) and dedicated rail lines. Inter-city rail with top speeds between 90 and 125 mph is sometimes referred to in the United States as higher-speed rail.
The Baltimore–Washington Superconducting Maglev Project (SCMAGLEV) is a proposed project connecting the United States cities of Baltimore,Maryland,and Washington,D.C.,with a 40 miles (64 km) maglev train system between their respective central business districts. It is the first segment of the planned Washington-New York Northeast Maglev project. The maglev proposal is not related to the Baltimore–Washington hyperloop proposed by the Boring Company.
The Hartford Line is a commuter rail service between New Haven,Connecticut,and Springfield,Massachusetts,using the Amtrak-owned New Haven–Springfield Line. The project is a joint venture between the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts,with support from the federal government as well. CT Rail-branded trains provide service along the corridor,and riders can use Hartford Line tickets to travel on board most Amtrak trains along the corridor at the same prices. The service launched on June 16,2018.
Rails with trails (RWT) are a small subset of rail trails in which a railway right-of-way remains in use by trains yet also has a parallel recreational trail. Hundreds of kilometers of RWTs exist in Canada,Europe,the United States,Australia,and the United Arab Emirates.
Joseph Houston Boardman was an American transportation executive.
The Pelham Bay Bridge,also known as the Amtrak Hutchinson River Bridge,is a two-track movable railroad bridge that carries the Northeast Corridor (NEC) over the Hutchinson River in the Bronx,New York,upstream from the vehicular/pedestrian Pelham Bridge. It is owned by Amtrak,which provides passenger service,and is used by CSX Transportation and the Providence &Worcester Railroad for freight traffic.
The Hilltopper was a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It ran daily from South Station in Boston,Massachusetts to Catlettsburg station in Catlettsburg,Kentucky. The 1,674 mi (2,694 km) run made 34 stops in 11 states and the District of Columbia.
Joseph C. Szabo is a former government official who was the twelfth Federal Railroad Administrator of the United States. Nominated by President Barack Obama on March 20,2009,he was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 29,2009. Safety was the top priority of his administration. He stepped down from the position on January 9,2015 and Sarah Feinberg became the Acting Administrator on January 12,2015,and subsequently the permanent Administrator.
The Office of High-Speed Ground Transportation was established in the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) to administer the requirements of the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 to "undertake research and development in high-speed ground transportation,including,but not limited to,components such as materials,aerodynamics,vehicle propulsion,vehicle control,communications,and guideways."
Polly Ellen Trottenberg is an American government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Transportation under Pete Buttigieg from 2021 to 2025. She served as the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration from June 2023 to October 2023. She previously served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation from 2014 to 2020.
Ronald L. Batory is an American railroad industry executive who served as the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration from 2018 to 2021. Batory has over 45 years of leadership experience in the railroad industry,including serving as president and chief operating officer of Consolidated Rail Corporation and as president of the Belt Railway of Chicago. According to a 2012 Fred Frailey article,"all Ronald Batory has ever wanted to do is work for a railroad."
The Sawtooth Bridges are a pair of railroad bridges on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) known individually as Amtrak Bridge No. 7.80 and Amtrak Bridge No. 7.96. They are located in the Meadowlands in Kearny,New Jersey,between Newark Penn Station and Secaucus Junction at a stretch where the rights-of-way of Amtrak,NJ Transit,PATH,and Conrail converge and re-align. The name refers to their appearance and the numbers refer to the milepoint (MP) from New York Penn Station. Originally built by the Pennsylvania Railroad,they are now owned and operated by Amtrak. They are slated for replacement as part of the Gateway Program,an infrastructure-improvement program along the NEC.
Coachella Valley–San Gorgonio Pass Rail Corridor Service is an effort by the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) to start regular passenger rail services between Los Angeles and Indio,California. Service is envisioned to start at Los Angeles Union Station and run over the route of the Southwest Chief,switching to the valley's Union Pacific Railroad line at Colton to run over San Gorgonio Pass and terminating at Indio or Coachella. The proposed schedule would include one morning and one afternoon trip in each direction for two daily round trips. As of 2022,the current rail line in the Coachella Valley is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad,as part of its Sunset Route between Los Angeles and Yuma,Arizona. The Sunset Limited Amtrak service stops at the Palm Springs station three times a week in each direction.
Karen Jean Hedlund is an American attorney and governmental advisor who has served as a member of the Surface Transportation Board since January 2022.
The Corridor Identification and Development Program,abbreviated as the Corridor ID Program,is a comprehensive planning program for inter-city passenger rail projects in the United States administered by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Each route accepted into the program is granted $500,000 toward planning activities and is prioritized for future federal funding.
