The Obama administration announced a new U.S. push to transform travel in America, creating high-speed rail lines from city to city, reducing dependence on cars and planes, reducing congestion and greenhouse gases, and spurring economic development.


President Obama released a strategic plan outlining his vision for high speed rail in America. The plan identifies $8 billion provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year, plus $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 set the direction of transportation policy for the future.

The plan identifies two types of projects for funding. One would create new corridors for world-class high-speed rail like the kind found in Europe and Japan. Another would involve making train service along existing rail lines incrementally faster.

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.

The report identifies 10 high-speed rail corridors as potential recipients of federal funding: 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.

"My high-speed rail proposal will lead to innovations that change the way we travel in America," said President Obama. "We must start developing clean, energy-efficient transportation that will define our regions for centuries to come... High-speed rail is long-overdue, and this plan lets American travelers know that they are not doomed to a future of long lines at the airports or jammed cars on the highways."

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood put it this way: "We simply can't build the economy of the future on the transportation networks of the past."

Read more about the administration's high-speed passenger rail plan at www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/31.