Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor
Feb 19, 2010

New poll finds 83 percent of respondents supporting more federal funding for high-speed rail and transit (HNTB Press via @beyondDC)

Investor Carl Icahn is forming a consortium to go after a share of the high-speed rail pie (AP)

Federal transportation safety regulators call for national crash-resistance standards for transit cars (Bloomberg)

How blue is your city? One artist color-codes local commuting patterns (Infrastructurist)

Siemens expands its plans to build new high-speed rail production facilities in California — if it wins a bid to help the state construct bullet trains (AP)

Transit plans getting a newly warm welcome in Indiana (Indy Star)

Speaking of Indiana, it’s the next stop on LaHood’s TIGER stimulus tour (Inside IN Business)

And on the lighter side, LaHood helps MTV stars court a basketball date with Obama (PJ Star)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETSBLOG CALIFORNIA

Cal. Gov Proposes $4.2 Billion for Bullet Train

By Roger Rudick | May 18, 2021

If adopted, Newsom revise budget could end wrangling to divert funds away from High-Speed Rail electrification

Coming Soon to Popular Transport Stimulus Programs: Local Funding

By Elana Schor | Apr 7, 2010

Two of the most popular transportation programs in the Obama administration’s stimulus law, the $1.5 billion in competitive grants known as TIGER and the $8 billion high-speed rail initiative, had an added feature that made them even more attractive to cities and states: the federal funding awards would not require a local match. Amtrak’s Empire […]

Jindal’s Not Alone: Guvs Who Shunned Stimulus Warm to High-Speed Rail

By Elana Schor | Aug 20, 2009

Think Progress took note yesterday of a change of heart from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who blasted the economic stimulus law for its $8 billion in "wasteful spending" on high-speed rail — only to later seek $300 million of that money for a rail link between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Gov. Mark Sanford […]

Expectations for High-Speed Rail Coming Down to Earth

By Elana Schor | May 5, 2010

Three months after the Obama administration announced the first winners of what it hopes will be the first of many federal grants to build U.S. high-speed rail networks, advocates and planners are settling in for a long battle to surmount the obstacles and unknowns that stand in the way of long-term bullet train development. If […]

Final Stimulus Bill Slaps Transit Riders in the Face

By Ben Fried | Feb 12, 2009

The final tally is in, and we now have a breakdown for transportation funding in the stimulus bill that President Obama will sign, barring some unforeseen turn of the screw. Via Transportation for America: $29 billion for highways and bridges $8.4 billion for transit $8 billion for high-speed rail $1.3 billion for Amtrak To compare […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor | Apr 5, 2010

Obama administration faces security vulnerabilities in ground transportation in the wake of Moscow transit bombings (ABC) New poll shows D.C. metro area residents, by a 62 to 30 margin, prefer expanding transit over roads to tackle congestion … (WashPost) … while distracted driving is seen as a growing problem (WashPost) California high-speed rail racked by tensions over whether […]