WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Amtrak announced Wednesday that its Chief Executive Bill Flynn would be retiring next month. He will be succeeded by the president of Amtrak as it embarks on a major expansion funded by Congress.

Flynn (68), has been overseeing the railroad’s operations since April 2020. Flynn also managed it through the COVID-19 Crisis and massive falls in demand. Stephen Gardner, Amtrak president and CEO will replace Flynn effective January 17, making him the fifth CEO of Amtrak since 2016.

Congress approved $66 billion to rail in a huge infrastructure bill. Amtrak received $22 billion, while $36 billion was set aside for competitive grants.

Amtrak will be adding service and upgrading stations. Amtrak has an agreement with Siemens Mobility Inc for the manufacture of a new fleet up to 83 multi-powered trains as well as options up to 130 more trains.

Flynn’s role as senior adviser will be continued by Gardner and company until Sept. 30, 2022.

Amtrak announced Tuesday that it will suspend the mandate to vaccinate employees. It also stated that they do not expect to have to reduce service for January. According to Amtrak, 95.7% of 17,000 employees had been fully vaccinated. They also cited the U.S. District Court ruling that stopped enforcement of President Joe Biden’s executive order mandating vaccinations for federal contractors in January.

Amtrak hopes to increase its presence in the United States by adding up to 39 routes and as many as 166 cities to its network by 2035. Amtrak hopes to reach 20 million more people each year and plans to rebuild much of its infrastructure such as tunnels and bridges within the New York City region.

To address COVID-19’s collapse, $3.7 Billion in emergency funds has been granted to the railroad. It received $2B from Congress the year prior to the pandemic.

The company is looking to hire 2,500-3,000 employees before the end of 2022.

Gardner last week stated that Amtrak experienced a drop in demand during COVID-19, and now sees 70% of its pre-pandemic volume.

In the 12 million trips it made to customers in the financial year that ended in Sept. 30, 2018, the company was down from 16.8million passengers in its prior budget year. It also had 32.5 million passenger trips in 2019, which is the final full year of the pandemic.

Gardner, who is 45 years old, was a senior member of U.S. Senate Commerce Committee staff.