Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman presented a $1.8 billion budget request to Congress Feb. 12 with increases for tracks, bridges, engines and passenger cars.

IBEW Railroad Department Director Bill Bohne called for swift approval.

"Amtrak ridership was over 30 million for the fifth year in a row and set a record in the Northeast corridor, but Congress has not responded to that increased use with increased investment," Bohne said. "We are on borrowed time already, so Congress should get this done quickly."

The approximately 1,200 IBEW members at Amtrak maintain existing engines, passenger cars, communication systems, and overhead wiring, keeping the railroad safe and efficient. But as it ages and reaches capacity, inevitably delays and costs will rise. It is a recipe for a loss of ridership and greater economic pressure.

Amtrak has made significant investment to meet the 2015 mandate for positive train control on the Northeast corridor. Thanks to the hard work of IBEW and other union railroad members, from north of Boston to Richmond, Va., Amtrak workers and passengers are protected by this automated safety system.

But the investment in PTC came at a cost. The most commonly used cars in the system are nearly 40 years old, and the newest engines, for the Acela service, came online when Bill Clinton was president.

"I ride those cars every day," Bohne said. "They are still clean and comfortable, but they are taking more work, and more costly work, to keep them that way."

The bigger worry, Bohne said, is not the rolling stock, it is the infrastructure.

In the budget request letter sent to Vice President Joseph Biden and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Boardman wrote, "The [Northeast corridor trains] carry a significant portion of the traffic into and out of Northeastern metropolises, but deferred investments threaten current performance and severe capacity constraints limit the potential for future growth."

The biggest concerns are the nearly 500 bridges in the Northeast corridor system approaching, or already past, their 100th year of service.

"That is our biggest worry," Bohne said. "Amtrak gets hamstrung by underfunding, hurting timeliness, hurting the bottom line, and then Congress starts blaming the working people for making a decent wage."

In March 2015, transportation economist Frank Wilner wrote that simply modernizing the 450-mile Northeast rail infrastructure would cost $20 billion. Upgrading to the high-speed rail now common in Asia and Europe would cost $120 billion.

And that would not touch the problems in the rest of Amtrak's intercity passenger network, which is spread over 21,000 track miles in 46 states, with 520 stations.

"Obviously a $1.8 billion dollar budget request won't get us where we need to be, but it would be a nice change if Amtrak wasn't a political football," Bohne said. "It would give some solidity."