Obama’s Money Trains

(Journal of Commerce Online – John D. Boyd)

More than half of high-speed rail grants will go into freight corridors to build up inter-city passenger service

It took nearly a year and a stubbornly high unemployment rate before the Obama administration recast its long-awaited $8 billion in rail system grants as part of a jobs strategy.

But when the White House unveiled its list of winners for high-speed rail funding, to boost passenger train service between cities, it quickly became clear large parts of it would go into the freight rail corridors that also carry Amtrak trains.

For instance, of the 13 funding corridors that traverse parts of 31 states, just two would be true high-speed passenger lanes with “bullet trains” that would need their own walled-off tracks away from freight operations. Read more here.