Washington ? Amtrak, the long-distance passenger railroad, is asking Congress for $446 million to begin replacing locomotives and passenger cars as President Barack Obama increases transportation spending on rail.

Joseph Boardman, chief executive officer of Washington-based Amtrak, told a House Appropriations Committee panel Tuesday the railroad needs to raise its budget from the requested $2.1 billion for the next fiscal year in part to buy new Acela equipment for high-speed routes in the Northeast.

“Between 2002 and 2008, Amtrak increased its ridership by 32 percent without buying a single piece of new rolling stock,” Boardman testified at the transportation subcommittee hearing. “That’s a remarkable accomplishment, but one that cannot be sustained indefinitely.”

Passenger cars in Amtrak’s fleet have been in service for an average of 24 years, an all-time high for the railroad that plans to replace rail cars and locomotives over the next 30 years.