High Speed Rail
Streetsblog LA
High-Speed Rail Lobbying Campaign Revives the “$4B” Rallying Cry
The lobbying coalition that helped prod Congress into approving $2.5 billion for high-speed rail last year -- twice as much as the Senate had originally set aside -- today kicked off a new campaign urging lawmakers to approve $4 billion for bullet trains next year and $2.6 billion for Amtrak.
May 11, 2010
Expectations for High-Speed Rail Coming Down to Earth
Three months after the Obama administration announced
the first winners of what it hopes will be the first of many federal
grants to build U.S. high-speed rail networks, advocates and planners
are settling in for a long battle to surmount the obstacles and
unknowns that stand in the way of long-term bullet train development.
May 5, 2010
Dem and GOP Senators Seek More Long-Term Rail Vision From Obama Aides
The senior Democratic and Republican
senators in charge of setting annual transportation spending levels
today urged the leader of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to
develop a more comprehensive plan for using the White House's high-speed rail program to spur the development of viable U.S. train networks.
April 30, 2010
High Speed Rail Project Has Mojo, But Expect a Bumpy Trip
In perhaps the strongest sign yet of just how politically potent the
statewide high speed rail project has become, a bid by a Republican
Assemblywoman to squelch the project has fallen flat (Assembly Bill
2121) and as a face-saving move the bill has been amended to merely
mandate the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) submit funding
reports as it goes forward with the project.
April 27, 2010
Planner Calls For ‘Fight’ Against High-Speed Rail Sharing Track With Freight
As federal and local officials plot out the future of U.S. high-speed rail, a prominent speaker at this week’s American Planning Association conference is urging fellow urban planners to “fight” the prospect of high-speed rail sharing roadbed with freight lines — a significant dilemma for Amtrak, which must split an estimated 70 percent of its … Continued
April 12, 2010
Bullet Train Audit Pending
I was getting caught up with my transit reading and stumbled across an
interesting item on the agenda of the April 8th Board meeting of the
California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA).
April 7, 2010
Coming Soon to Popular Transport Stimulus Programs: Local Funding
Two of the most popular transportation programs in the Obama
administration's stimulus law, the $1.5 billion in competitive grants known as TIGER and the $8 billion high-speed rail
initiative, had an added feature that made them even more attractive to
cities and states: the federal funding awards would not require a local
match.
April 7, 2010
LaHood Faces Off With GOP Senator Over High-Speed Rail, Livability
When Cabinet secretaries appear in front of Congress' appropriations
committees, which control the annual budgets for each federal agency,
the proceedings tend to be dry affairs dominated by local concerns and
arcane fiscal debates.
March 5, 2010
CAHSR Blog, L.A. Times Paint Different Pictures of High Speed Rail Planning
In addition to writing a charming piece on bus riding, the Times also published a piece that slammed the efforts to bring High Speed Rail to California. While Rich Connell and Dan Weikel didn't come right out and say that pursuit of the $45 billion for the High Speed Rail train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco; they did write an article that was long on attacking various portions of the project and light on a defense. If you were to just read the Times article, you could conclude that:
March 1, 2010
LaHood Talks TIGERS and Stimulus, While Boxer Pledges Support for “30 in 10”
It was billed as a day to discuss the reauthorization of the Federal Transportation Trust Fund, it turned in to a stirring defense of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and ended with a commitment from a United States Senator to do all she could to help turn Los Angeles into a transit town within the next ten years.
February 19, 2010