More than $1.3 billion of President Barack Obama’s federal stimulus funds will go to modernize Amtrak, the nation’s passenger railway.

“It’s way overdue,” said IBEW Railroad Department Director Bill Bohné. “It will mean a safer, more reliable and cleaner transportation system for the riding public, and more jobs and work for IBEW members.”

President George W. Bush and some congressional GOP leaders tried to slash the railway’s budget over the past eight years, threatening to privatize the government-owned system.

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden campaigned as strong supporters of rebuilding our passenger rail system. Biden himself is a longtime Amtrak rider, having commuted by train from Wilmington, Del., to Washington, D.C., for more than 35 years.

More than $100 million of the stimulus money will go to repairs at Amtrak stations, maintenance shops and train cars, an investment that has already opened up 50 new electrician positions.

Half of the openings are at Amtrak’s Bear maintenance facility outside Wilmington, which is represented by Local 2270. The other half are at the Beech Grove, Ind., facility near Indianapolis, which is represented by Local 784.

The IBEW represents more than 1,000 workers at Amtrak.