Spotlight: Amtrak to Take Spending Route for Improvements

Amtrak, the nation’s passenger railroad, will spend $823 million--including $609 million that was part of the omnibus federal spending agreement reached last week--to purchase new equipment and improve its existing systems next year. The money will be used to upgrade its telephone reservation system, to improve its Bakersfield-to-Oakland and other San Joaquin Valley routes and to replace some passenger cars and improve amenities in others throughout the system.