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LaHood trumpets trains on Daily Show
Thursday, December 17, 2009
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Ray LaHood | ||||
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Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Dec. 15, and spent much of the time talking about Amtrak and high speed rail.
Stewart asks if the DOT has anything groundbreaking in store, thinking along the lines of a new kind of fuel, a car of the future or hovercraft. Yes, says Secretary LaHood, “because of the President’s vision [...] we’re going to have high-speed passenger rail in America,” to thunderous applause.
While LaHood didn’t reveal much in the way of new information—unless you’re willing to read into his mentioning every part of the country but the Northwest when identifying possible targets for high speed rail funds (sorry Cascades!)—it’s always promising to see a prominent Administration official spreading the word to the general public.
—Sean Jeans-Gail and Malcolm Kenton
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, daily show, high speed rail, jon stewart, lahood,The people of New York have Secretary LaHood’s attention
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Everyday train advocates, spurred on by the implications of last week’s election results, have been finding creative ways to broadcast their support for passenger rail.
In today’s Fastlane blog post, Secretary Ray LaHood responded enthusiastically to the outpouring of support shown by New Yorkers for high-speed rail. Residents of the Empire State organized a mass demonstration on the Secretary’s official Facebook page, with messages from people who are eager for the jobs, economic development, and environmental benefits that a reliable, fast, clean high-speed rail service would bring:
If you’ve visited my Facebook page lately, then you’ve probably seen the explosion of notes from people urging Department of Transportation support for high-speed rail in New York State. I don’t know who started it, but the Facebook campaign sure got my attention!
...
Yesterday, Pamela Jardieu-Aderman reminded visitors to my Facebook page that, in the 19th century, New York connected its cities with the Erie Canal, and in the 20th century with the New York Thruway. In the 21st century, she wants New York State to dream big and achieve big with high-speed rail.
NARP is working to make sure this passion isn’t lost: check out our Take Action section for opportunities to tell your elected officials to support President Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure initiative—which would provide significant support for trains—and to tell Wisconsin’s leaders to save the Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison train.
Posted by NARP
Tags: facebook, high speed rail, lahood, new york, wisconsin,U.S. and Illinois Departments of Transportation break ground on Chicago high-speed rail project
Thursday, October 13, 2011
At a groundbreaking held on Monday, work officially kicked-off on Chicago’s Englewood Flyover, a critical prerequisite to enable the Windy City to serve as the hub for the Midwest high-speed rail network.
By building a “flyover” bridge to separate traffic along two railroads, the project will ease congestion on one of the worst rail bottlenecks in the U.S. This will improve on time performance while simultaneously easing congestion for the 130 passenger trains and freight trains that move through the hub every day. If you’ve ever ridden a train in the Midwest, you’ve probably seen these delays first hand (a few NARP Council Members were held up at this congestion-point on their way out to our Council Meeting being held in Los Angeles this week).
From the U.S. DOT press release:
Since the 1990s, Midwestern states have planned an intercity passenger train network that connects the 40 largest cities in the Midwest with over 60 roundtrips from downtown Chicago each day. The Englewood project will benefit passengers traveling along an improved corridor from Detroit, which has been awarded several grants for construction projects to increase speeds to 110 mph. Travelers from Cleveland, Indianapolis and Cincinnati will also see fewer delays thanks to the new bridge. The project is part of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE), a public-private partnership between the state, city and railroads aimed at untangling Chicago’s infamously snarled railroads where conflicts cause delays across all modes of travel.
The event was attended by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D), U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D), U.S. Congressmen Bobby Rush (D) and Dan Lipinski (D), and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D). While the movement of passengers and freight is certainly important politically—insofar as it is important to the local economy and to commuters—it is probably the 1,500 jobs the project will immediately create that attracted these political heavy-hitters
“The Englewood Flyover will make life easier for tens of thousands of commuters every day and put people to work immediately,” said Governor Quinn. “This vital project will eliminate a problem spot and set the stage for future passenger rail growth while boosting Illinois’ position at the economic engine of the Midwest.”
That sentiment was made more explicit by Secretary LaHood.
“Projects like this one are exactly why President Obama has made transportation such a big part of the American Jobs Act,” said Secretary LaHood. “We have workers on site today, American factories producing new supplies, and when the project is completed, people and goods will move more quickly and easily through the Midwest, making the region a better place to start a business or hire new workers.”
Considering the banner September the Federal Railroad Administration has had, you can’t blame the White House for using this as a platform to speak up for the infrastructure component of the American Jobs Act. It will be interesting to see who’s listening.
Posted by NARP
Tags: chicago, cincinnati, economy, englewood flyover, infrastructure, jobs, lahood, obama,Secretary LaHood Gives Update On High-Speed Rail
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood released another installment of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “On the Go” question-and-answer feature. The Secretary posted a video of himself fielding a number of questions from readers of the Washington Post’s “Dr. Gridlock” transportation columnist. If you skip to the 3:50 mark, you can see LaHood’s thoughts on the state of the High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail project. Specifically: “Where the heck is high-speed rail?”
While the Secretary doesn’t reveal a whole lot of new information about the high-speed rail program, it’s important to take a moment and appreciate having a DOT head who is capable of articulating that vision for passenger rail in America.
Posted by NARP
Tags: dr. gridlock, high-speed rail, lahood, washington post,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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