Florida Turns Down High Speed Rail funds

Florida becomes the latest state - after Wisconsin and Ohio - to turn down funds for a high speed rail line. Florida was given around $2.5 billion in federal recovery funds from 2009 that by law have to go to construction that increases the speed and availability of passenger rail.



This money is likely to be distributed between California, Illinois and the New York region - probably the areas where it is best spent anyway.

Next up is the budget battle to keep this year's authorization of $2.5 billion in play and to make sure Amtrak continues to be funded. A Republican proposal would cut Amtrak funds to $400 billion, not enough to maintain and run the rail program, which has seen record ridership for 15 straight months.

Infrastructure gets State of the Union nod

The good folks at The Infrastructurist have the scoop that Obama will push infrastructure spending in the State of the Union address (reframing the issue as infrastructure investment) and will link infrastructure upgrades and maintenance to economic competitiveness.

Commuter rail, right in my own backyard

Fellow traveller and blogger Barefoot and Progressive has the scoop on a possible commuter rail line between Lexington and Louisville in the bluegrass region of Kentucky.

I will discuss the pros and cons of such a project in the near future, and counter with a more viable proposal for commuter/inter-city rail in the Kentucky-Ohio-Indiana region.

New RNC chief, GOP to take aim at HSR, Amtrak spending

The budget hawks have prevailed in the latest congressional elections and the Republican National Committee just voted Reince Priebus their chairman. This is all bad news for both high-speed rail and passenger rail projects.



Priebus was formerly the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, and successfully backed anti-rail candidate Scott Walker into the governor's mansion. In recent weeks Walker nixed Wisconsin's plans for an $810 million federally funded high-speed rail line between Chicago and Madison citing budget concerns. Priebus is likely to follow suit and make targeting transportation funding a party policy.

In Ohio and New Jersey Republican governers have also rejected important high speed rail projects that would have brought their states closer to a 21st century transportation system.

In the past, the Republican Party has been a staunch opponent of Amtrak, making repeated attempts to drown it like a 'baby in a bathtub'. Now GOPers, uninterested in long term budgetary fixes like raising the retirement age or making significant defense cuts, are targeting discretionary spending as a good place to save a few bucks - never mind that transportation and other discretionary spending make up an insignificant amount of the federal budget - less than 1% annually.

Gas prices up.

Gas prices are at a national average of $3.08 and rising. This should underscore the need for HSR in the USA. Go get 'em, Secretary LaHood!

Ohio and Wisconsin Killed High-Speed Rail

So since I last posted, an election has taken place and new Republican administrations have been set up in the midwestern states of Ohio and Wisconsin. These administrations followed-through on campaign promises to stop high-speed rail corridor development in their respective states, seriously damaging the progress of building modern passenger rail infrastructure in the midwest.

The federal government diverted most of their money to ongoing projects in California, New York, Illinois and Florida, where faster and more beneficial projects are in progress. In the mean time, I'm sure the fiscally conservative governors in Wisconsin and Ohio have found responsible ways to budget.

Next up comes a serious challenge to the high-speed rail line in Florida that may see the $2.3 billion dedicated to building a Tampa-Orlando train diverted to other states. I am beginning to think that federal passenger rail funding should only go to the states that deserve it most: Illinois, California and New York. Why should our federal tax dollars go to developing states that don't want to be in the 21st century?

Developing High Speed Rail Right - In Review

Over the past few weeks I have been discussing the best way for the US to develop a new High Speed Rail System. Future posts will move the imaginary ideal system into the midwest and southeast United States. Before moving on, though, we should take a look back to where we've gone:

1) Make the Northeast Corridor true High Speed Rail.
2) Build the Lackawanna Cut-off from Scranton to New York City
3) Transform the Maple Leaf Route from New York to Toronto via Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Niagra Falls into a true high speed rail line.
4) Extend the high speed Northeast Corridor to Richmond and Newport News, Virginia
5) Connect Boston, MA to Albany, NY via Springfield, MA
6) Connect Springfield, MA and New Haven, CT via Hartford, CT
7) Upgrade and complete the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA via Harrisburg, PA
8) Connect Chicago and Windsor, ON Canada with High Speed Rail enabling through service to Toronto, New York, and Massachusetts.

With these plans, the following states would have high speed rail service: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the province of Ontario, Canada. It would also serve 8 of the top 25 metropolitan areas in the United States by population and the largest city in Canada. Not a bad start.