Railroads

GOP wants more private investment in a Northeast project that could cost $117 billion and take 30 years. 

Amtrak officials are looking to private investors for help in financing a high-speed rail service in the Northeast corridor.

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Meet the Transportation Security Administration's Blogger Bob.

The fate of another railway is in the hands of Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), and the high-speed-rail-killing governor says he hasn't made up his mind yet.

A second Atlanta airport would be cost-prohibitive.

United and Continental are trying to become one airline.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told attendees at a global tourism summit being hosted in Las Vegas that the Obama administration's high-speed rail initiative was still on track despite rejections of federal money by a trio Republican governors.

Newly elected GOP governors in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin have said "no" to entreaties to build new railways, despite the enticement of federal dollars. But LaHood said at the World Travel & Tourism Council's 11th annual summit that "Americans are way ahead of the politicians on this and it will be good for all of you in the hospitality industry.

"There is a pent-up demand in America for high-speed rail," The Wall Street Journal reported LaHood said during his remarks Tuesday.

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A group of scientists are saying not so fast to the Transportation Security Administration's evidence that its body scanners are safe.

Conservatives are saying the redistribution of Florida's $2.4 billion in high-speed rail money is really a bailout for Amtrak.

A JetBlue Airlines plane was struck by lightning, causing examination into whether lightning strikes could still cause plane crashes.

Delta Airlines is bringing new foods and iPads to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport next year.

Obama administration officials on Tuesday defended the president's proposal to place Amtrak under an executive agency budget instead of being reliant on direct appropriations from Congress. 

Currently, Congress subsidizes Amtrak operations, but President Obama in his 2012 budget proposal called for placing its funding under the Federal Railroad Administration.

FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo told a Senate committee the plan makes sense.

"The [fiscal] 2012 proposal builds on the paradigm of federal rail investment created by [The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act]," Szabo said in a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Transportation and Urban Development.

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The Transportation Security Administration's pat-down of an 8-month-old baby has been spoofed by comedian Conan O'Brien.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Washington connects are good for Chicago.

The Los Angeles Times says California high-speed rail plan is a wreck.

While it fights over where it is going to build 787 airplanes, Boeing is producing more 777s.

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An AirTran Airways pilot in Minneapolis, Minn., was arrested for being drunk before his scheduled flight.

Hawaii is having some second thoughts about rail.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be among the attendees at Rahm Emanuel's inauguration as Chicago mayor.

Washington state has a transportation budget.

An amendment to the intelligence authorization bill that would place a higher priority on making sure railways are secure was approved Friday by the House.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. John Carney (D-Del.), was approved on a 221-189 vote that was scheduled after the measure failed on a voice vote Thursday.

Carney said it was important to direct the intelligence agencies to step up their efforts to secure railways in the wake of the discovery that terrorist Osama bin Laden was plotting attacks on them before he was killed by U.S. forces.

“Today’s legislation will ensure that the U.S. government places a priority on ensuring the safety of rail passengers around the country by working to prevent a terrorist attack on our rail system,” Carney said in a statement after the roll call vote Friday.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Air traffic controllers haven't been just sleeping on the job. They've also been making more errors.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) is pushing Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) to accept another railway in central Florida.

They can't decide what type of trains they want for high-speed rail in Texas.

Another bus crashed in Maryland.