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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2011

We commend Chairman John Mica and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for holding a hearing today to focus on the viability of high-speed rail in California.

Our research indicates that there are two markets in the nation that have the concentrations of population, employment, and existing travel markets to support high-speed passenger rail today: California and the Northeast. California, having started planning this project in the mid-1990s, is now poised to be the first state in the nation to build world-class high-speed rail. In doing so, it will transform the state's geography, shrinking time distances among the state's major job centers and connecting California residents to economic opportunity for decades to come.

In this Update:

• California HSR Business Plan; 'Knowledge Corridor' Rail Report
  
• US HSR Conference Nov. 6-8
  
• Senate Preserves Rail Funding
  
• Carnegie Report Backs Oil, Gas Taxes

• New report: High-Speed Rail: International Lessons for U.S. Policy Makers
• Senate Keeps High-Speed Rail Funding Alive for Now
• Northeast Corridor Funding Sent to States and Amtrak
• America 2050 in the News
  

Around the country, over one-third of Amtrak passengers ride routes that receive substantial funding support from states. These 15 states understand the importance of passenger rail to their residents, businesses, and economies, and have invested in these routes to maintain and improve service. These routes are referred to as state-supported corridors and in 2010, they carried over 9 million passengers, about one-third of Amtrak's annual ridership. A new budget proposal passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month proposes to eliminate every last one of them. The same budget proposal cuts funding for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program to zero.

Criticism of Amtrak commonly focuses in on its federal subsidies. However, these 15 states have taken it upon themselves to supplement scarce federal resources and make critical investments in these corridors to improve service and grow ridership. The House budget proposal unfairly punishes these states for this and places the burden of budget cuts squarely on the shoulders of passengers on these state-supported routes.

Please contact your elected officials and tell them to fight this budget proposal that reverses decades of progress to vital passenger rail corridors in all corners of the country. Visit www.StandUpForTrains.org today to send your Senators, Representative, and President Obama the message that you want America to have a stronger national passenger rail system.

Transportation advocates were gearing up for a big push to ensure that the federal surface transportation program did not expire at the end of the month, but in a remarkable show of common cause and swift action on Tuesday, the House unanimously approved a six-month extension of SAFETEA-LU, as well as a four-month extension of the authorizing legislation for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Senate still has to pass this bill before it's final, but Harry Reid has promised to move it through quickly, leaving transportation advocates breathing a little easier.

The federal surface transportation bill, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU), which funds federal highway, safety, and transit programs, originally expired in 2009. Since then, rather than pass a new, long-term bill that reauthorizes these important programs and guarantees funding assistance for the thousands of active transportation projects around the country, Congress has passed seven short-term extensions, essentially kicking the can down the road. These Band-Aid extension solutions do not give states the funding assurances they need to complete major infrastructure projects that often span several years and provide hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs to American workers.

"I'm calling on Congress," said President Barack Obama on August 31^st in a speech on the lawn of the Rose Garden, "as soon as they come back, to pass a clean extension of the surface transportation bill." Upon hearing this, many rolled their eyes. Advocates around the country were already beginning to set up the phone banks and prepare the advocacy letters we were going to send warning of the dire consequences of letting these programs shut down or waiting until the last minute to extend them. This time, our leaders did what was necessary to keep America moving forward with time to spare.

The bill, the Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011, extends SAFETEA-LU through March and the FAA through January. Highway and transit programs would receive funding at fiscal year 2011 levels - $19.8 billion for highways and $4.2 billion for transit paid for out of the Highway Trust Fund. The FAA will receive about $5.4 billion. This is the eighth time SAFETEA-LU and the 22^nd time the FAA bill have been extended.

Last night, President Obama gave an impassioned speech to a joint session of Congress, outlining his $447 billion economic package to put Americans back to work and provide economic relief to businesses and families through comprehensive tax cuts and unemployment insurance benefits. While critical details of the plan have yet to be released, including the all important question of how to pay for it, the broad concepts are sound. The nation's transportation system will be affected in the following ways:

President Obama's plan, the American Jobs Act, includes an investment of approximately $50 billion in federal funds for transportation projects around the country. According to the fact sheets posted on the White House's website, the funds are intended for transportation infrastructure projects that modernize our nation's highway, public transit, intercity rail, and aviation systems. The President cited necessary upgrades to our air traffic control system, which a recent RPA report, Upgrading to World Class: The Future of the Regions Airports, recommended in order to expand capacity at the New York metropolitan region's heavily congested airports.

In order to fund major transit and rail transportation projects, the President's economic package also calls for investing about $5 billion to expand the U.S. DOT's Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program and FHWA's Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) credit assistance program to help leverage federal resources. An additional $2 billion would be spent on improving our nation's intercity passenger rail service (presumably going towards another round of grants for the federal High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program).

The American Jobs Act would also establish a National Infrastructure Bank to help build a wide range of infrastructure projects of national and regional significance by leveraging private and public capital, and capitalize it with $10 billion in seed money. To speed the delivery of these infrastructure projects, and create jobs and achieve their benefits faster, the President would follow up on a Memorandum that was recently issued that set forth a plan to streamline time-consuming environmental review and permitting processes.

Download the Fact Sheet: American Jobs Act (PDF)

Download the Presidential Memorandum - Speeding Infrastructure Development through More Efficient and Effective Permitting and Environmental Review (PDF)

On Monday, the Secretary of the U.S. DOT, Ray LaHood, announced that Amtrak and the New York State Department of Transportation will indeed receive the $745 million that was awarded to them back in May 2011 for two high-speed and intercity rail projects on the Northeast Corridor. The grant awards, announced just over three months ago, represented a major victory for the region's passenger rail system and today's announcement marks a major milestone in bringing the benefits of these improvements to the Northeast Corridor.

In May, Sec. LaHood, joined by Sen. Schumer, announced nearly $1 billion in awards for the Northeast, including $795 million for projects on the NEC.

Robert Yaro, Co-Chair of America 2050 and President of Regional Plan Association, remarked, "Secretary LaHood's announcement is a huge relief for the millions of rail passengers who rely on the Northeast Corridor, America's busiest intercity transit link. These investments had been threatened by a proposed rescission of these funds by the U.S. House of Representatives. Looking forward, these two rail improvement projects will increase the reliability of Northeast Corridor rail service, create thousands of jobs in the Northeast, stimulate American manufacturing, relieve significant bottlenecks, and allow for increased speeds and decreased travel times on the Corridor."

"We applaud the Secretary and the Administration for making this wise, much-needed investment and moving to obligate the funds so quickly."

• While Buses Play a Valuable Role, they are no Replacement for High-Speed Rail
• EVENT: Job Creation and U.S. Investment in High Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail (August 3rd, 11:30am, Capitol Visitors Center, South)
• Carnegie Endowment Releases Plan to Reform Transportation Funding
• House Republicans Move to Take Back High-Speed Rail Awards
• House and Senate Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bills, A Far Cry from the President's Proposal
• America 2050 in the News