US government kick-starts $8 billion in high-speed rail projects
The US federal government is providing $8 billion in grants -- coming from economic stimulus money -- to get things moving on the nation's first high-speed, intercity rail service between a number of major cities.
California will receive $2.25 billion, the largest amount for any state, in federal economic stimulus funds to develop a high-speed rail line running from Anaheim to San Francisco. Additional lines will also include a Midwest line from Chicago to St. Louis and one in Florida running from Tampa to Orlando. Trains will run up to 220 miles an hour.
According to a Los Angeles Times report, trains on the proposed Anaheim-to-San Francisco line, which is projected to ultimately cost about $42 billion, "would whisk passengers the 400 or so miles in no more than 2 hours, 40 minutes. The project would take a decade to complete, with extensions to San Diego and Sacramento planned."
Florida will receive $1.25 billion to help build a high-speed rail system from Orlando to Tampa and, eventually, to Miami.
A $1.1 billion grant will fund a high-speed corridor between Chicago and St. Louis, and eventually to Kansas City.
An $823 million award to link Minneapolis to Milwaukee and Chicago.
New York state will receive $151 million for a high-speed rail line from Niagara Falls to New York City.
The California High-Speed Rail Blog has provided links to White House has info sheets on what each state received. Some highlights:
- $600 million for Pacific Northwest rail, including bypasses to help the Amtrak Cascades achieve 150mph service
- $4 million for Texas, for grade crossing improvements in Austin and Fort Worth
- $17 million for Iowa, for BNSF crossovers
- $400 million for Ohio, specifically for the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati corridor.
- $1.13 billion for Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City
- $800 million for Minneapolis-Milwaukee-Chicago
- $244 million for Pontiac-Detroit-Chicago
- $620 million for Charlotte-Raleigh-Richmond-DC
- $1.25 billion for Florida
- $485 million for HSR in Northeast Region and $706 million for Amtrak stimulus funding, for a number of different corridors from DC to Maine to Montreal.
UPDATE: For further reference, Wired magazine has just published a nice summary of who, what, when, where and why as it regards high-speed rail in the United States.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com