President Donald Trump’s return to office has raised questions about the future of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding Massachusetts secured for its east-west rail plan.

After “Amtrak Joe” Biden oversaw what observers called a remarkably pro-rail presidency, the Trump administration is taking an opposite approach. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, for instance, announced federal funding would be connected to birth and marriage rates, and immigration policy.

Nonetheless, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal said he remains confident funding will keep flowing to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for east-west rail, though the Springfield Democrat noted “you have to be mindful” of Trump’s differing priorities from those of Biden.

The east-west rail expansion includes two major phases — an “inland route” with two daily trains from New Haven, Connecticut, through Springfield to Boston, and a service from Boston through Springfield to Albany-Rensselaer, New York.

The plans are part of MassDOT’s Compass Rail vision, which will feature a network of Amtrak-run passenger rail systems going north, south, east and west from the hub of Springfield Union Station.

The north-south portion of Compass Rail is already in place, consisting of the Vermonter, which runs from Washington D.C. through Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield to St. Albans, Vermont, and the Valley Flyer, which operates from New Haven to Greenfield.

Sources familiar with the project expect the inland route to be complete by late 2029 or early 2030. The full expansion is projected to be complete by 2045, according to projections from last spring.

MassDOT has had to work with private freight rail company CSX, which owns the track from Worcester to Schodak, New York, 13 miles southeast of Albany-Rensselaer station. The MBTA owns the track from Boston to Worcester, and Amtrak owns the final stretch from Schodack to Albany-Rensselaer.

A CSX spokesperson said the company’s goal is to “keep freight moving safely and efficiently to our customers while also working to accommodate passenger train schedules,” adding that “CSX and MassDOT have a longstanding history of collaboratively finding solutions that benefit both freight and passenger operations.”

Ben Heckscher, co-founder of rail advocacy group Trains in the Valley, said he views east-west rail as a “win-win” for both passenger rail and CSX’s freight operation.

“Any improvements for passenger rail, ideally, are going to be improvements for freight rail,” Heckscher said. “Because you need to move the freight trains without delay just as you need to move the passenger trains without delay. Can’t do one or the other.”

Legislators who have led the charge on east-west rail, such as Neal, say the project would help alleviate traffic congestion on the Mass Pike as the primary artery from the western parts of the state into the Boston area. With an increasingly high cost of living in the Boston metropolitan region, supporters also say east-west rail could make it more attractive to live in western Massachusetts.

“The Pioneer Valley, Berkshire County, all of those opportunities could avail themselves to give us again some relief on housing prices or the differential between Boston and, let’s say, Springfield,” Neal said.

Springfield Chamber of Commerce President Diana Szynal said she believes east-west rail would serve as a boon to the city’s economy, and could attract those in eastern Massachusetts to live, and work, in western Mass.

She said the project would be most effective with “further investment” in the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, which runs buses across the region with Springfield as a hub.

“Making sure that we’re really connecting folks that do come to western Mass. with things they want to do here, places they want to work here, places they want to live here,” Szynal said.

Years of discussion over the potential for east-west rail in the state culminated in two MassDOT studies — one in 2016 and one in 2021 — to flesh out the plans. That led to the two-pronged plan: the inland route and the Boston to Albany route, both of which run through Springfield.

Then-Gov. Charlie Baker approved the project in April 2022, and the state began to secure significant chunks of federal funding from there.

Gov. Maura Healey has allocated $123 million in funding for east-west rail since taking office, including a $108 million federal grant, which was secured in 2023 from the Federal Railroad Administration. Those familiar with the project say that money has been formally obligated, and design work made possible by the funding is underway.

Last October, the state secured an additional $36.8 million from a federal grant for track, signal and infrastructure improvements at Springfield Union Station. According to Neal, that grant, along with all others, is “moving along.”

Neal, who grew up in Springfield and was mayor from 1984-1988, pointed out that Massachusetts residents have paid a 1-cent MBTA sales tax for years, and paid for the Big Dig in Boston. While noting that “we need a strong metropolitan transit system in our capital region, for sure,” he called for “regional equity” for infrastructure investment in western Massachusetts.

“We have faithfully paid that MBTA tax for as long as I can remember,” Neal said. “It’s time for east-west rail to be treated with the same priority status by which the Big Dig and the MBTA are measured.”

Sen. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, said he is “not a huge fan” of east-west rail, citing doubts over the project’s cost-to-benefit ratio. He noted that fixing the MBTA must be the priority, and that there should be less focus on “shipping people off to Boston for work every day.”

Neal argued east-west rail is not just about connecting western and central Massachusetts to Boston, but connecting the rest of the state to the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires.

He referenced Durant’s constituents in southern Worcester County, saying those residents could take advantage of east-west rail by traveling west to see the fall foliage, or to enjoy the arts and culture in the Berkshires.

“It would be a nice way for them to accommodate those interests,” Neal said. “I understand the skeptics, but there are always skeptics, and thank God we don’t put them in charge of much.”

Mitch Fink writes for the Greenfield Recorder from the Boston University Statehouse Program.