Railroads

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.

The national passenger rail service would continue running trains even if the federal government shuts down Friday, officials from Amtrak said.
 
"Amtrak will continue normal operation of its national intercity and high-speed passenger rail network in the event of a short-term federal government shutdown," the company said in a statement.
 
"Passengers planning to travel on Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor and across the country in the coming days and weeks can be assured that Amtrak will remain open for business," the Amtrak statement said.

Gov. Rick Scott dismissed nose-diving poll numbers and defended his rejection of federal funds for high-speed rail.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

They're putting the pedal to the metal in Texas.

Pennsylvania is another one of the 24 states that wants the high-speed rail money Florida didn't.

A California commuter rail gets a budget reprieve.

West Virginia is considering rail too.

Amtrak had more riders in March than it has had in any March in its 40 years of existence, the company said Thursday.
 
There were 137,000 more Amtrak riders this past month, the company said, which was the 17th straight month of increased ridership. That puts the company on track to break its annual ridership record, which was 28.7 million last year, Amtrak said.
 
From the first six months of the current fiscal year, October 2010 to March 2011, Amtrak ridership was up 5.9 percent over the same period from 2009 to 2010, the company said. 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Virginia transportation officials do not dig plans to build a new Washington MetroRail stop at Dulles Airport underground.

Minnesota commuters will have to deal with $900 million worth of road construction projects this year.

It was supporters' turn to be heard in the debate over what to do with federal high-speed rail money North Carolina already has in mind.

The N.C. Department of Transportation isn't waiting for the argument over railways to be resolved before asking for more money.