US President Barack Obama said the government will seek to develop high-speed rail nationally, considering that the country’s infrastructure investment and transportation alternative have been ignored and dismissed by previous administrations but long embraced by Asia and Europe.
Obama said the first steps of this ambitious initiative will tap $8 billion in newly available economic stimulus money through 2012, and his high-speed rail proposal will lead to innovations that change the way of travelling in America.
He said further that the funds will go to states for upgrading existing passenger rail lines and laying the groundwork for high-speed projects, 10 of which are in various stages of planning in California, the Gulf Coast and other regions.
National passenger railroad, Amtrak, which is financially supported by the government, also hopes to tap into the stimulus money to improve its heavily traveled line between Boston-New York and Washington.
Amtrak has experienced a boon in ridership recently and new political footing after nearly a decade of confrontation with the Bush administration, which once sought to dismantle its operations.
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