Summary：USA: In a blueprint for its proposed Financial Year 2018 budget, the Trump administration is planning to cut funding for the Department of Transportation to $16bn, a 13% reduction on that available for FY2017

USA: In a blueprint for its proposed Financial Year 2018 budget, the Trump administration is planning to cut funding for the Department of Transportation to $16bn, a 13% reduction on that available for FY2017.

Under the proposals, swinging cuts would be made both to passenger train and municipal transport operations and to federal grants for capital investment in both main line and urban rail projects. Richard White, Acting President & CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, said he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by the planned cutbacks, given President Trump’s concomitant endorsement of significantly increased infrastructure spending.

In what is described as a ‘skinny budget’, the administration is seeking to withdraw all federal funding for Amtrak’s long-distance passenger services.

Claiming these are operations ‘which have long been inefficient’ and incur ‘the vast majority of Amtrak’s operating losses’, the document says the national passenger railroad corporation should focus its resources on state-funded services and on the 735 km Boston – New York – Washington DC Northeast Corridor, where it makes a surplus.

However, among the projects potentially affected by cuts to infrastructure spending is the planned Gateway programme to provide additional tunnels on the NEC between Newark, New Jersey and New York Penn Station, which Amtrak regards as essential to sustaining its principal inter-city service into the future.

In response, Amtrak President & CEO Wick Moorman said that Amtrak covered 94% of its total network operating costs in 2016, adding that the cuts would eliminate Amtrak operations in 23 of the 46 states it currently serves.

Also proposed for withdrawal are the established New Starts and TIGER funding programmes, which have supported many commuter rail and urban transport projects in recent years. The Trump administration suggests that only those projects which have already secured Full Funding Grant Agreements would proceed; any other investment would need to be underwritten by states, other local authorities or the private sector. APTA says that more than 50 public transport projects in 23 states are now under threat of cancellation.

The FY2018 budget blueprint will now be submitted to Congress and the Senate for further consideration. Initial reports suggest that it is unlikely to pass without significant alteration.

Selected rail projects awaiting Full Funding Grant Agreements
State	City/Region	Project
AZ	Phoenix	South Central LRT Extension
AZ	Tempe	Tempe Streetcar
CA	Los Angeles	Regional Connector Transit Corridor
CA	Los Angeles	Downtown Streetcar
CA	Los Angeles	Westside Purple Line Extensions
CA	Sacramento	Downtown Riverfront Streetcar
CA	San Bernardino	Redlands Passenger Rail
CA	Bay Area	Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project
CA	San Diego	Mid-Coast Corridor Transit
CA	San Francisco	Third Street Light Rail Phase 2 - Central Subway
CA	San Jose	BART Silicon Valley Phase II - Extension
CA	San Rafael	SMART Larkspur Extension
CA	Santa Ana	Santa Ana/Garden Grove Streetcar
CO	Denver	Eagle Commuter Rail
FL	Fort Lauderdale	Wave Streetcar
FL	Orlando	SunRail Phase II
IL	Chicago	Red and Purple Line Modernisation
IN	Gary/Michigan City	South Shore Line Connectivity Plan
LA	Baton Rouge	TramLinkBR Streetcar
MA	Boston	Medford – Cambridge Green Line Extension
MD	Maryland	National Capital Purple Line
MN	Minneapolis	Blue Line Extension
MN	Minneapolis	Southwest LRT
NC	Charlotte	LYNX Blue Line Northeast Extension
NC	Durham	Durham-Orange LRT Project
NJ-NY	New York/Newark	Hudson Tunnel Gateway Project
NY	New York	Canarsie Subway Upgrading
NY	New York	Second Avenue Subway Phase 2
OR	Portland	Milwaukie Light Rail extension
TX	Dallas	CBD Second Light Rail Alignment
TX	Fort Worth	TEX Rail
WA	Seattle	Centre City Streetcar Connector