The Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study was created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be completed by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Section 22214 of the law orders the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to study the restoration of all long-distance Amtrak routes that had been discontinued, daily service on non-daily trains (the Cardinal and Sunset Limited), and the possibility of new long-distance routes—particularly those that were discontinued upon the formation of Amtrak.
[9] In November 2023, the FRA released their interim report to congress describing their current progress in the study.
[10] In February 2024, the FRA released its third round of meeting materials which included a preferred draft network of fifteen new long-distance routes.
[11][12] The plan would increase the coverage of the long-distance Amtrak network by 23,200 route miles,[13] reaching an additional 45 million population,[14] 61 metropolitan statistical areas,[13] 24 congressional districts,[15] twelve National Park Service sites,[16] and two states (Wyoming and South Dakota).