US transit gets increase in Federal funding

The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1970 set in place a means to deliver federal funding to public transit systems. Amtrak was set up to provide an intercity rail passenger service. Details are given of federal funding for the fiscal year 2005 to rail and road transit and of federal aid to Amtrak. Railway equipment suppliers will continue to gain a major part of their business from the passenger sector, with capital investment in commuter, heavy and light rail construction, modernisation, maintenance, signalling, telecommunications and rolling stock. The New York area will see rail transit activity on a scale unmatched elsewhere in the USA. However, two major projects (the East Side Access project and the Second Avenue Subway) are in jeopardy if New York State does not provide the capital support deemed necessary by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Operating and capital deficits will affect transit agencies in cities such as Chicago. Denver will benefit from a tax increase approved by voters to help the construction of the FasTracks project.