Obama announced his high speed rail plans today, via White House press release:
The President released a strategic plan outlining his vision for high speed rail in America. The plan identifies $8 billion provided in the ARRA and $1 billion a year for five years requested in the federal budget as a down payment to jump-start a potential world-class passenger rail system and sets the direction of transportation policy for the future. The strategic plan will be followed by detailed guidance for state and local applicants. By late summer, the Federal Railroad Administration will begin awarding the first round of grants.If Europe can do it and China can do it and Japan can do it, I'm pretty sure the U.S. can do it. During his speech, Obama said, "It's being done. It's just not being done here. There's no reason why we can't do this. This is America. There's no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else, beyond our borders." He's right.
Additional funding for long-term planning and development is expected from legislation authorizing federal surface transportation programs.
The report formalizes the identification of ten high-speed rail corridors as potential recipients of federal funding. Those lines are: California, Pacific Northwest, South Central, Gulf Coast, Chicago Hub Network, Florida, Southeast, Keystone, Empire and Northern New England. Also, opportunities exist for the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston to compete for funds to improve the nation’s only existing high-speed rail service.
I have to admit, I like watching Obama when he talks about new plans like this for the country. He invokes the country's can-do attitude, which seemed lost during the Bush debacle. He's getting "people to imagine what's possible."
