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Pre-Application Excitement

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The possibilities are virtually endless as states begin jockeying for federal passenger rail improvement money.

For passenger rail advocates, this has been a great week for imagining possibilities that may be coming one step closer to fruition. The Department of Transportation announced today that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has received a whopping 278 pre-applications from state governments and interstate authorities, each seeking a piece of the $8 billion included in the Recovery Act for “high-speed intercity passenger rail.” The news comes a full five weeks in advance of the final application deadline, and indicates a high level of interest from those who would do the work of constructing and upgrading rail infrastructure to support the desired level of service.

Here is a mere sampling of projects that are now in the running, based on news reports compiled by NARP. Each heading links to the full story. The FRA has complete summary data [PDF] of the pre-applications.

  1. State of Illinois: Undisclosed sum to boost top speeds to 110 mph on Amtrak’s Chicago-St. Louis, Chicago-Milwaukee/Madsion, and Chicago-Detroit routes, and lay groundwork for 220-mph Chicago-St. Louis express service.
  2. California Nevada Super Speed Train Commission: Undisclosed sum for a maglev line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Estimated total cost: $12 billion.
  3. State of Kansas: $500,000 to study implementation of state-supported Amtrak service from Kansas City to Oklahoma City (via Topeka and Wichita).
  4. States of Texas, New Mexico and Colorado: Undisclosed sum to study viability of a dedicated high-speed rail line from El Paso to Denver via Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
  5. State of Virginia: $2 billion plus for Infrastructure improvements allowing higher-speed trains between Washington and Petersburg.
  6. State of Connecticut: Undisclosed sum to establish high-speed service between New Haven and Springfield, MA.
  7. State of Pennsylvania: $6.8 billion for four projects, including Pittsburgh-Harrisburg upgrades and maglev between Greensburg and Pittsburgh International Airport.
  8. Arkansas Highway Commission: at least $500,000 to study high-speed connections from Little Rock to Texarkana and Memphis.
  9. State of Wyoming: Depending on what Colorado does, may be interested in extending the El Paso-Denver line north to Cheyenne.
  10. State of OklahomaUndisclosed amount to initiate 150-mph service from Tulsa to Oklahoma City and make track improvements from Oklahoma City south to the Texas state line to speed up Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer.
  11. State of Indiana: $49 million for Amtrak service from Chicago to Toledo via Fort Wayne.
  12. Ohio Rail Development Commission: At least $250 million to initiate service on the 3C (Cincinatti-Columbus-Cleveland) route, as part of a more expansive planned network.
  13. State of North Carolina: $4 billion to pursue 90 proposed projects to upgrade tracks & signals between Charlotte and the state line north of Raleigh, including reconstructing a direct rail link from Raleigh to Richmond.

As a side note, the $31 billion “Illinois Jobs Now Act,” signed by Gov. Quinn on Monday, contains significant rail and transit investments. Included is 322 million for CREATE, a massive project led by a public-private partnership to reduce railroad traffic congestion in and around Chicago, the nation’s busiest freight rail hub and a major Amtrak hub. The Act also contains $150 million for the state’s share of Amtrak operating grants, $1.8 billion for public transit, and loan repayments to freight railroads. The state funding bolsters Illinois’ odds of winning stimulus grants for passenger rail. Here’s a full list [PDF] of the projects funded.

—Malcolm Kenton and Sean Jeans-Gail

Posted by NARP

Tags: amtrak, applications, congress, create, funds, high-speed rail, illinois, passenger rail, states, stimulus, transportation,

Train Investment IS a Deficit Reduction Measure

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Many articles in the press are playing up the opposition of some politicians to spending scarce state funds, or adding to the national debt, to improving passenger train service. Most recently, a New York Times piece cites opposition from some gubernatorial candidates in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida and California. However, if polls showing broad public support for passenger trains reflects the attitude of the electorate, running on an anti-rail platform may not be wise. Yes, the price tag for high(er)-speed rail projects is high, but the price of maintaining the status quo—lost productivity from ever-increasing road and air congestion, escalating health costs from air pollution, and the opportunity cost of forgoing the economic development that modern train service would generate—is much higher.

As economic policy expert Ezra Klein writes in the Washington Post, “[d]elaying a dollar of needed infrastructure repairs is no different than racking up a dollar of debt.” Now is the best time to build major pieces of infrastructure like better railroads and train equipment because construction costs and interest rates are historically low and so many people are in desparate need of a job. The economic output generated through building out needed infrastructure—both direct and indirect—will result in increased tax revenue, leaving us better able to pay down whatever additional debt we incur.

If we use our fiscal deficit as an excuse to continue to ignore our infrastructure deficit, our children and grandchildren—putting up with a lower quality of life than we now enjoy—will look back and ask “What were they thinking?” We already have the vision and the means to build out our rail network so that almost every American community is served by fast, frequent, reliable trains. We just need the political will, and that’s where each of us citizens comes in. Make sure your elected officials and candidates know that investing in this infrasturcture now will pay much greater political dividends than continued inaction.

Side Track

  • A Vancouver Sun editorial details just how misguided Canada Border Service is in its insistence that Washington State pay additional hundreds of thousands (more than $20 per passenger per day) in order to keep the popular second Portland-Vancouver Cascades frequency running across the border. The train’s economic benefit to British Columbia far exceeds this cost, and Canada does not charge US authorities for border inspections at road crossings, which far outnumber the 3 existing passenger train crossings. If you live in Canada, please contact Prime Minister Harper and your Member of Parliament and ask them to waive this charge.

—Malcolm Kenton

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

Tags: 2010 elections, 2010 governor races, budget shortfall, california, deficit, ezra klein, florida, infrastructure investment, national debt, new york times, ohio, states, wisconsin,

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