President Obama, Vice President Biden to Announce $8 Billion for High-Speed Rail Projects

[quiet.american]

President Obama, Vice President Biden to Announce $8 Billion for High-Speed Rail Projects Across the Country

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-vice-president-biden-announce-8-billion-high-speed-rail-projects-ac

Tampa, FL – President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will today announce that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is awarding $8 billion to states across the country to develop America’s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service. Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), these dollars represent an historic investment in the country’s transportation infrastructure, which will help create jobs and transform travel in America. The announcement is one of a number of job initiatives the President will lay out in the coming weeks that follow up on the continued commitment to job creation he discussed in last night’s State of the Union Address. A full list of the awards can be viewed HERE.

“Through the Recovery Act, we are making the largest investment in infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System was created, putting Americans to work rebuilding our roads, bridges, and waterways for the future,” said President Obama. “That investment is how we can break ground across the country, putting people to work building high-speed rail lines, because there’s no reason why Europe or China should have the fastest trains when we can build them right here in America.”

“By investing in high speed rail, we’re doing so many good things for our country at the same time,” said Vice President Biden. We’re creating good construction and manufacturing jobs in the near-term; we’re spurring economic development in the future; we’re making our communities more livable—and we’re doing it all while decreasing America’s environmental impact and increasing America’s ability to compete in the world.”

Today’s awards will serve as a down-payment on developing or laying the groundwork for 13 new, large-scale high-speed rail corridors across the country. The major corridors are part of a total of 31 states receiving investments, including smaller projects and planning work that will help lay the groundwork for future high-speed intercity rail service. The grants are not only expected to have an up-front job and economic impact, but help spur economic growth in communities across the country, provide faster and more energy-efficient means of travel, and establish a new industry in the U.S. that provides stable, well-paid jobs.

This historic $8 billion investment is expected to create or save tens of thousands of jobs over time in areas like track-laying, manufacturing, planning and engineering, and rail maintenance and operations. Over 30 rail manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, have agreed to establish or expand their base of operations in the United States if they are hired to build America’s next generation high-speed rail lines – a commitment the Administration secured to help ensure new jobs are created here at home.

“The President’s bold vision for high-speed rail is a game changer,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “It’s not only going to create good jobs and reinvigorate our manufacturing base, it’s also going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and help create livable communities. I have no doubt that building the next generation of rail service in this country will help change our society for the better.”

The majority of the dollars announced today will go toward developing new, large-scale high-speed rail programs. This includes projects in Florida, which is receiving up to $1.25 billion to develop a new high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and Orlando with trains running up to 168 miles per hour, and in California, which is receiving up to $2.25 billion for its planned project to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and points in between with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.

In April 2009, the Administration released a long-term plan for high speed rail in America. In addition to the $8 billion awarded today, the plan also included $1 billion a year for five years in the federal budget as a down payment to jump-start the program. Applicants submitted over $55 billion in project proposals for the initial $8 billion in funds awarded today.

Obama Administration officials are traveling across the country this week to announce funding for the high speed rail projects and discuss how this investment will create local jobs and rebuild the economy. Today, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson will travel to Durham, North Carolina, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis will visit Columbus, Ohio and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will hold an event in Washington, DC, Executive Director of the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers Ed Montgomery will visit St. Louis, Missouri and Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Friday, a senior Department of Transportation official will travel to California and FRA Administrator Szabo will hold an event in Chicago, Illinois.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-vice-president-biden-announce-8-billion-high-speed-rail-projects-ac

edited to add div boxes

[Cha]

1. This is huge!

“The President’s bold vision for high-speed rail is a game changer,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “It’s not only going to create good jobs and reinvigorate our manufacturing base, it’s also going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and help create livable communities."

This should go in GDP, too.:)

[BunkerHill24]

2. Joe gets his pet project! n/t

[FBaggins]

3. I love this idea.

It's about time we developed a better passenger rail network... though we're going to need to spend lots more than that.

I guess the airlines' financial woes kept them from lobbying against it as well as you might expect.

[quiet.american]

5. Great point about the airlines - was wondering why this never could happen before.

Hadn't occurred to me that airlines may have been lobbying against this.

Great point.

[FBaggins]

6. There's a cultural gap to close as well... but that's changing

There are other reasons why rail has never really taken off (no pun intended). People are simply willing to pay to get to their destination a little faster... and the US is a larger country than most (it just isn't feasible to take a train from LA to NY unless you have a very flexible schedule).

Having said that, increased security at airports means that there are many trips where the airline USED to be more convenient but is no longer. The fact that trains usually go city-center to city-center while airports are outside of town... plus traffic... plus having to arrive a couple hours before the flight...etc - well... it all adds up to more train trips becoming viable.

[quiet.american]

8. Very good set of points on why the public would be more receptive to train travel now.

And when they unveil the first of these babies, no doubt with lots of fanfare, it's going to be very exciting.

[TheWraith]

11. I still say we should have built vactrains.

Vactrains are magnetically levitated trains run through a tunnel where the air has been pumped out. No air or rails means no friction, which means ludicrously high speeds... like 4000 to 5000 miles an hour. How does NYC to LA in 45 minutes, for $200 per person sound to you?

Mind you, the initial investment in the system would be around what we have paid and are going to pay for the Iraq War, costs plus veterans benefits, running into the $3 trillion dollar range. But the payback in terms of infrastructure, mobility, and commerce would be ridiculously high. Some estimates say return on investment in 15 to 20 years.

[tanyev]

10. Oh, yeah.

I think Texas is a perfect state for high-speed rail. Most of our major cities lie in one straight shot and you'd just have to add a little triangle to put Houston in the loop. Southwest Airlines has been fighting it for years.

[avaistheone1]

4. Trains to no where!

Whoopee!

What do we need high speed trains for when we don't manufacture anything anymore, and people don't have money to travel - we can't even afford health insurance.

Oh and some of our tax money for this is going to foreign train manufacturers who employ foreign workers. Excuse me while I barf. :puke:

[quiet.american]

7. I've never seen someone quite so eager to prove that reading comprehension is not their thing.

"Trains to nowhere"?

The majority of the dollars announced today will go toward developing new, large-scale high-speed rail programs. This includes projects in Florida, which is receiving up to $1.25 billion to develop a new high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and Orlando with trains running up to 168 miles per hour, and in California, which is receiving up to $2.25 billion for its planned project to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and points in between with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.

At the link, here are the states and regions involved:

Florida
California
Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City
Madison - Milwaukee – Chicago
Charlotte - Raleigh - Richmond - Washington, D.C.
Eugene-Portland-Seattle
Detroit-Chicago
Ohio
Northeast

-------------

"Oh and some of our tax money for this is going to foreign train manufacturers who employ foreign workers." ?

"Over 30 rail manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, have agreed to establish or expand their base of operations in the United States if they are hired to build America’s next generation high-speed rail lines – a commitment the Administration secured to help ensure new jobs are created here at home.

---------------

“The President’s bold vision for high-speed rail is a game changer,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “It’s not only going to create good jobs and reinvigorate our manufacturing base, it’s also going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and help create livable communities.

---------------
The grants are not only expected to have an up-front job and economic impact, but help spur economic growth in communities across the country, provide faster and more energy-efficient means of travel, and establish a new industry in the U.S. that provides stable, well-paid jobs.

[avaistheone1]

12. I have never seen anyone so profoundly faulty themselves at reading comprehension

be so quick to point the finger at others.




SPIN METER: US jobs picture mixed for rail grants

.snip

Building ultra-fast trains won't create the kind of high-tech, high-paying jobs Americans covet any time soon. Indeed, many of the projects receiving high-speed dollars through Obama's program aren't what most of the rest of the world calls "high speed." And those projects that are truly high speed will have to rely on overseas companies with the experience building, supplying and operating the sleek, modern trains of Europe and Asia - an expertise that the U.S. lacks, say rail experts.

That wasn't the picture Obama painted in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, when he touted $8 billion in new railroad grants funded by the federal economic stimulus law. He said they would "create jobs and help our nation move goods, services, and information," and in the next breath lambasted companies who "ship our jobs overseas" and called for slashing their tax breaks.

White House spokesman Bill Burton underscored the jobs message Thursday. "The program creates tens of thousands of jobs and is the largest investment in infrastructure since the interstate highway system was created," he said. .snip

But the jobs to design and make the rail cars and engines, signaling and track for the fastest trains will mainly go abroad to the European and Asian companies because it will take time for the U.S. to develop its own domestic high-speed rail industry, rail experts said. There will be U.S. manufacturing and engineering jobs for slower trains often described as "higher speed" or "midspeed." Much of the domestic high-speed work, however, will be the kind of construction and earth-moving work typical of highway projects, they said. .snip


For the U.S. to decide to build high-speed train systems using primarily U.S. companies, "would be like Bangladesh deciding they want to have a space program and only use technology they have developed and manufactured themselves," said Anthony Perl, chairman of the National Research Council's intercity rail panel.

The technology gap between true high-speed trains and the slower trains in use in the United States is equivalent to the gap between the planes flown by World War I flying aces and today's jets, said Perl, an American who teaches transportation policy at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.

Some of the equipment purchased for high-speed rail like train cars might be manufactured abroad and the parts bolted together in assembly facilities in the U.S., he said.

"There will be some jobs that come out of it, but unless people are prepared to double the cost and take at least twice as much time to ramp up the capacity to supply this high-speed technology in the U.S., it's not there," Perl said. .snip


University of Denver professor Andrew Goetz agreed that high-speed rail isn't a panacea for immediate and large-scale U.S. job creation.

"If you are concerned about dropping the unemployment rate from 10 percent to 5 percent, then this isn't going to do it. It will help, but it's not going to solve the problem," said Goetz, an expert on transportation policy and economic geography.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and members of Congress have acknowledged that foreign companies will play an important role in the high-speed rail program, but they hope they will partner with U.S. companies. .snip


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HIGH_SPEED_RAIL_STATES?SITE=WIMAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Furthermore, the kicker is at the end of the day the profits will go back to foreign companies.



I see you did not get it - I was being figurative in my use of the expression trains to nowhere. What I was trying to say is that these trains are as useless as the bridge to nowhere. We don't need these high speed trains. We don't manufacture much of anything any more, and people can't afford their mortgages or health insurance, much less to take a trip on a high speed train. What is the value of this project?

I believe all the areas you mentioned already have rail systems. And many of them have excellent and various other modes public transit that are already in existence. These trains don't really solve any problem or real need.

If this money has to be spent on public works projects for stimulus purposes, the money should be spend on critical infrastructure which is deteriorating like our bridges and damns, levees etc. We are going to have more Katrinas and I don't just mean in just Louisiana. Many if not most states have infrastructure problems. Our leaders should be making the difficult, and unsexy decision of handling these kinds of projects now.

[FBaggins]

9. In addition to QA'a excellent rebuttal, it should be noted that

the REASON current high-speed trains are purchased from Europe is because we only need a handful and they already make them. There isn't anything CLOSE to the demand here for it to make sense to produce them in the states.

A project on this scale would almost require more local sourcing.

[Mopar151]

14. We have any number of industrial plants waiting

To be assembly points, or convertible to fabrication and machine shops to serve a resurgent rail system. For that matter, we have some surplus capacity in the aircraft business with many of the necessary capabilities.

[Mopar151]

13. We'll need the secret Xe/CIA hit squad

To take out Timothy Mellon and his "Smithers", David Fink. They are a cancer on the rail systems in the Northeast, a disgrace to the fine working nation we once were. I hear some of our freight railroads really work these days - but you'd hardly know it in the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Maybe Warren Buffets's group could help us out, with some stimulus money thrown in. Getting some traffic off our overburdened road system will certainly help, as will the years of work to rebuild and update the roadbeds. And there are some prospective mid-speed routes available, where the Boston & Maine (one of Mellon's railroads) have pulled up the rails and sold them for scrap. And a railcar plant in Barre, VT, abandoned by Bombadier after the Acela debacle.