Administration unveils high-speed rail plan

President Barack Obama’s plan to construct high-speed rail in the U.S. got the administrative green light on April 16. That is when the U.S. Department of Transportation released its high-speed plan aimed at developing 100- and 600-mile-long corridors across the country. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will start awarding the first round of grants before the end of summer. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contains $8 billion for the development and execution of high-speed rail.

“I commend the President for recognizing the importance of developing high-speed rail transportation in the U.S.,” Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), Republican Leader of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a statement.

Mica has authored an initiative to open high-speed rail development in the U.S. to private-sector participation, which was included in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 and became law in October 2008. So far, the FRA has received over 100 expressions of interest from parties interested in the development, finance, construction, operation and maintenance of U.S. high-speed rail service.

The U.S. DOT plan released in mid-April proposes a three-pronged approach:

• “Ready-to-go” projects must be funded by federal grants;

• Corridor programs that would use federal-nonfederal agreements to develop segments or phases of corridor programs, which have planning and completed and lists of projects carried out;

• Planning activity for corridor programs and projects will be carried out through federal-nonfederal agreements.

Although the blueprint is a critical first step in establishing high-speed rail corridors and perhaps reducing traffic congestion in metropolitan areas, some industry leaders believe more needs to be done off the tracks as well.

“There is a missing mode in the plan,” said Nancy Kete, director of EMBARQ—The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport, a non-profit organization that develops transport solutions for cities around the world. “To complement rail, we also need to help cities build high-quality, high-capacity bus rapid transit systems, which can offer good high-speed service but at a fraction of the cost of rail.”

American Road & Transportation Builders Association President Pete Ruane agrees, adding that more needs to be done to the entire transportation system.

“We strongly believe the proposal should be integrated into an overall strategic vision that recognizes and addresses the challenges of a transportation network that is truly intermodal in scope,” he said. “There is no silver bullet for this dilemma, but adding new passenger rail, highway and transit capacity are part of the solution.”