Federal Railroad Administration Going Full Steam

The U.S Department of Transportation and Federal Railroad Administration have had quite the productive week, delivering $225 million to five states to improve train service as part of the High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Program. That brings the Septmber-total for FRA HSIPR grants up to around $415 million.

The projects announced this week will go to upgrade tracks and stations across the U.S., and includes:

• $149.3 million for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to upgrade high-speed and intercity passenger rail service on the Empire Corridor;
• $13.3 million grant for the Delaware Department of Transportation to add a third track immediately south of the Wilmington, DE station;
• $48.3 million for North Carolina and Virginia to advance the development of the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor, which will link Raleigh, NC, Richmond, VA, and Washington, D.C.;
• $13.6 million for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to modernize the Portland Union Station, upgrade passenger rail service along Amtrak’s Cascades route, and continue further development of an integrated, statewide rail network.

These funds will upgrade existing Amtrak service by increasing top speeds, easing congestion at key choke points to reduce delays and improve on time performance, and improve reliability throughout the corridors.

The projects will also create good paying jobs. The FRA received a lot of harsh criticism from opponents of the Recovery Act who believed they weren’t getting the money out the door fast enough. But with the chances of an additional stimulus bill slim-to-none and even regular transportation budgeting caught up in partisan wrangling over the debt, these projects are hitting at just the right time. With economists warning of the increasing prospects of double dip recession, we should all be thanking the FRA for employing skilled American workers to build things of lasting value (“value” being a key word…rail has received enough partisan heat without being the subject of the controversy that has overtaken renewable energy initiatives with the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra).

That, however, adds a bitter flavor to the fiscal year 2012 budgeting going on in Congress at this very moment. Just as this program is finally hitting its stride, House leaders are doing their best to kill it. The best-case scenario for HSIPR funding is the Senate’s propose $100 million—less than a quarter of what the FRA moved out the door in this month alone. It’s up to transportation advocates to broadcast the HSIPR successes far and wide to discredit the “train to nowhere” fallacy wherever it rears its head.