December 15 - U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and Congressman John Mica (R-FL) joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City today to announce the Department of Transportation's request for proposals for high-speed rail investment in corridors across the United States. Citing the energy efficiency, convenience, and economic competitiveness benefits of high-speed rail, the political leaders lamented the slow progress of the U.S. in implementing modern high-speed rail technology.

The new high-speed rail initiative announced today by the U.S. DOT is a small program in  the recently enacted Rail Safety Act, signed into law by President Bush in October 2008. Much more significant is the authorization of approximately $13 billion for Amtrak and U.S. states for operating and capital costs related to intercity and high-speed rail. The focus of today's press conference, the issuance of a request for proposals for private investment in high-speed rail should result in an interesting preview of whether private investors consider rail a profit-making enterprise. At best, it should garner some new energy, ideas, and proposals for how to make this long overdue technology available in the U.S. At worst, it could distract from the urgent task at hand --bringing America's existing rail network up to a state of good repair and implementing dependable, regular, and more frequent intercity services in corridors around the U.S. 

New York Channel 4 reported on the new conference below.

For almost a year now, Americans have felt the burden of surging gas prices and have shifted to intercity rail.  According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, ridership on Amtrak increased 14 percent last month from last July.  The Capitol Corridor, which serves the San Francisco and Sacramento market, has seen ridership increase by 33 percent.  Overall gains across the nation on Amtrak's routes seem to support its projected total ridership of 28 million for the current fiscal year.  It is clear that some of the nation's busiest highways, airways and rail corridors have reached or are near capacity.  Leaders in Washington have responded to these trends as evidenced by passing legislation in both the House and Senate to reauthorize Amtrak.  The increased funding could help Amtrak fix existing infrastructure deficiencies, such as dilapidated catenaries, and aging bridges and tunnels, as well as finance a long awaited capital program to expand services. 

Read the full WSJ article.

Amtrak's fortunes may finally be turning around. The National Rail Passenger Corporation has been fighting for its life for the duration of a hostile Bush administration and ever since the last Amtrak authorization bill of 1997, which directed the corporation to become financially self-sufficient and brought about a decade of service cuts and deferred maintenance that worsened Amtrak's poor performance and reputation.

But last Wednesday's vote in the U.S. House of Representatives may usher in a new, more hopeful era for passenger rail in this country. The bipartisan bill (H.R. 6003) would authorize $14.4 billion over five years to support Amtrak, including capital grants to Amtrak itself to invest in new passenger cars, rehabilitate aging bridges and replace railroad ties and overhead wires, and to states to improve passenger corridors and facilities. (For the New York region, this could mean improvements to Moynihan Station may be eligible to receive the state capital grants.) The bill also reverses the self-sufficiency directive as did a similar Amtrak bill passed by the Senate last October. The two bills must now go to conference and pass both houses again before being signed into law.

Two bills introduced last week in the House of Representatives would authorize increased funding for Amtrak's capital and operating expenses and create new sources of funding for developing high-speed rail corridors in the United States. The first bill, H.R. 6003, the "Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008" is the companion bill to the Lott-Lautenberg Amtrak bill passed in the Senate last October. It authorizes $14.4 billion for Amtrak over the next five years and represents the first multi-year authorization for Amtrak since the "Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997." The other bill, H.R. 6004, "The Rail Infrastructure Development and Expansion Act for the 21st Century" or "Ride-21", authorizes $12 billion of tax-credit bonds and $12 billion of tax-exempt bonds for new high-speed rail corridors over the next 10 years. This legislation will be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and represents a new source of funding for rail in the country, an important first step toward finding rail funding beyond the annual appropriations process.

Read the text of H.R. 6003

Read the text of H.R. 6004

Photo: Vandy607 on Flickr

Baltimore - Planning directors and staff from northeast states gathered for a two-day retreat in Baltimore on February 27-28, 2008 for the 10th Annual Northeast State Planning Leadership Retreat.  Organized by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Regional Plan Association, the event featured a series of state best practices: 1) County and Municipal Coordination; 2) Urban Revitalization and Transit-Oriented Development; and 3) Open Space and Environmental Preservation.  Participants also considered the potential for regional partnerships to tackle issues at a larger scale. 

To view presentations from the event, click below:

Reid Ewing, "Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change"

Harriet Tregoning, "Making the Land Use-Transportation-Clmiate Change Connection"

Gerrit Knaap and John Frece, "Maryland's Smart Growth Initiative"

Richard Hall, "Open Space and Environmental Preservation in Maryland"

David Kooris, "Response to Urban Revitalization & TOD Panel"