WASHINGTON – Chicago’s Metra will receive a $513.6 million from the American Rescue Plan fund, announced U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The funds will help the commuter agency maintain service and keep workers on the payroll as it continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Public transportation has helped people reach their jobs at hospitals, grocery stores, ports, and more throughout this pandemic,” said Buttigieg in a U.S. DOT news release. “This funding from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan will help keep Metra service running, protect transit employees from layoffs, and ensure people can get where they need to go.”
“While intercity transit ridership was hit hard by the pandemic, commuter rail also felt a tremendous impact,” said FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez. “Helping keep Metra and other commuter railroads on track, while ridership recovers, is of critical importance to the communities that are connected by the rails that Metra travels.”
This funding is part of more than $30 billion for public transportation in the American Rescue Plan Act signed into law by President Biden last March. The funding comes from the $26.6 billion allocated by statutory formulas to urban and rural areas, Tribal governments, and for the enhanced mobility of seniors and individuals with disabilities.
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