Cross-posted from the DOT’s Fast Lane blog.
I have looked forward to this day for a long time.
It is a great honor–a great honor–to have President Obama and Vice President Biden in Tampa, Florida, to announce our American Recovery and Reinvestment Act High-Speed and Inter-city Passenger Rail grants.
The investments we announce today make rail a viable transportation alternative in many regions. With this historic $8 billion investment by President Obama, we are jump-starting American High-Speed rail.
The bulk of today’s awards go to new, large-scale high-speed rail programs–projects such as Florida, with $1.25 billion to develop a high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and Orlando with trains running up to 168 miles per hour–and California, with $2.25 billion to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and points in between with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.
In total, 31 states and the District of Columbia will receive awards. In addition to 13 corridor investments, we are also awarding several grants for improvement projects and planning. These efforts on existing routes and emerging corridors will lay the groundwork for future high-speed and intercity rail development.
I’ve said it before, and I believe it even more today: this is an absolute game-changer for American transportation.
We will make passenger rail more efficient, providing better service in travel markets across the country.
High-speed rail travel offers competitive door-to-door trip times
It reduces congestion on key routes between cities
It reduces transportation emissions
And, most of all, it creates the jobs of the future, the jobs America needs right now
Fonte: White House