Railroads

American International Group (AIG) is getting out of the railcar-leasing business.

AIG, which received a more than $180 billion bailout from the federal government during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, is selling its rail division to Perella Weinberg Partners, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg said the sale, which is still in progress, would be for $600 million.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administrator John Pistole said a pat-down of a 6-year-old was within the scope of the agency's procedures, even as he and Congress now look to change them.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will deliver the commencement address at Boston College this year.

Connecticut is trying to get whatever high-speed rail money is left after the budget cuts.

Vermont bus drivers are on the verge of a strike.

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) took her criticism of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's rejection of $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail money back home, telling Scott exactly what she thought of the decision.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday that Brown confronted Scott at a Florida congressional delegation breakfast that featured a visit from the anti-rail Republican governor.

“I have not recovered from the loss of high-speed rail,” the paper reported that Brown, the ranking member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, said.

“And I don’t think I will ever recover," it said she concluded.

The 2011 budget deal eliminates funding for collision detection systems on trains, much to the chagrin of transportation safety advocates.

The funding, $50 million in the Federal Railroad Administration budget, was originally cut in the three-week continuing resolution signed by President Obama in March. The cut remained in the deal Democrats reached last week with House Republicans, which will fund the government through September and cuts $39.9 billion in spending.

"APTA members are urged to contact their Members of Congress to tell them to oppose the reductions for transit and High Speed Rail programs in the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution," the American Public Transportation Association said in an alert to its members.

"Please explain that these funds are vital to maintain transit assets in a state of good repair, and allow for the expansion of mobility options in our nation, which are critical as gas prices continue to rise," the alert said. 

Florida Gov. Rick Scott took credit this week for the elimination of $1.5 billion in high-speed rail money included in last week's deal to avoid a federal government shutdown.

The Republican said his rejection of $2.4 billion the Obama administration had offered Florida showed Congress they should cut the overall rail money.

“I am proud to have brought this waste to the attention of those in Washington,” Scott said in a statement released by his office. “These funds should either be returned to taxpayers as tax cuts or applied to reducing the burden that our national debt is passing to future generations.”

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The national passenger rail service says it wants to see more railways developed in the next surface transportation bill, and wants to play a central role in the process.
 
Amtrak called Tuesday for the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) — legislation Congress is gearing up to consider — to include "multi-year funding for intercity and high-speed rail" and a national rail strategy that has "a clear and leading role" for Amtrak.
 
“The development of intercity passenger rail and Amtrak’s national system should be afforded a significant role in the nation’s federal surface transportation programs,” Joe McHugh, Amtrak vice president for government affairs, testified last week to the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on Railroads.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Quiet rail cars in Massachusetts passed their test runs.

Connecticut is getting $40 million for rail.

Airports are getting ready for new, bigger 747s to hit their runways.

Toyota's telling U.S. auto dealers the Japan earthquake could reduce the number of parts that are available this fall.

The deal that averted a federal government shutdown last week will eliminate $1.5 billion in high-speed rail money, Department of Transportation officials confirmed to The Hill Monday afternoon.

A short-term continuing resolution was approved late last Friday to avoid a shutdown of the federal government, but legislative language is being drafted in both chambers for a bill that would fund the government through the end of September. Details emerged Monday showing the Obama administration's push for high-speed rail was on the chopping block.

Congress had appropriated $2.5 billion for high-speed rail last year, but House Republicans were intent on cutting at least $1 billion of it from the moment they took control of the chamber this year.

DOT told The Hill that the cut will not affect grants that have already been given. However, the amount available is a far cry from the $53 billion the Obama administration has included in its six-year transportation bill proposal that Republicans have already indicated is unlikely to move forward.

The General Accountability Office (GAO) said Monday the Obama administration did not make clear enough why it selected the high-speed rail projects that won billions of dollars in federal funding.  
 
A GAO report released Monday said the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) should have provided additional documentation showing how it selected some projects over others when it awarded $8 billion in high-speed rail money included in the 2009 economic stimulus package.
 
That may have played a role in three Republican governors turning down rail money this year, the GAO report said.  
 
"FRA established a fair and objective approach for distributing these funds and substantially followed recommended discretionary grant award practices used throughout the government," the report said. "The exception is what we view as incomplete documentation of why some applications were chosen and not others, and how FRA decided to distribute the funds at the time those decisions were made.”

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Colorado is looking at creating a regional transit system.

Washington state wants some of Florida's rejected high-speed rail money.

Arkansas is reviewing the condition of its roads.

Kansas is considering raising its speed limits too.