On the Verge of a New Rail Renaissance

[FayeforCure]

At the end of the 110th Congress, we enacted the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which laid the foundation for the $8 billion included in the recovery act for high-speed rail. As the President stated in his Vision for High-Speed Rail, that $8 billion was a down payment on a more permanent high-speed rail program.”

The Surface Transportation Authorization Act, which he unveiled in June, “makes the President’s vision a reality by providing $50 billion over six years for high-speed rail corridor development. It also provides funding for planning high-speed rail projects and for research, development, and demonstration of high-speed rail. As we have heard there is a clear need for a $50 billion program because the FRA has received requests totaling $57 billion from states for approximately $8 billion that is available.”

The senior representative ( Oberstar ) pointed out that “over the past 50 years, the federal government has invested nearly $1.3 trillion in our nation’s highways and over $473 billion in aviation. However, only since 1970, when Congress created Amtrak, did we begin a grant program for passenger rail. Since that time we have invested just $53 billion dollars in passenger rail â€" that is only a small fraction of what European and Asian countries have invested.

Without question, the U.S. lags significantly behind the rest of the world when it comes to high-speed rail.”

http://www.examiner.com/x-10977-Jacksonville-Transportation-Examiner~y2009m10d15-Brown-sees-opportunities-challenges-for-HSR-Oberstar-agrees-both-cite-China

Proud to see Corrine Brown be such an avid rail supporter!!!