Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Rail

Following “Cash for Clunkers” With “Riches for Rail”

By Elana Schor | Aug 5, 2009 | 3 Comments

Tom Toles cartoon: Washington Post Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, began his hearing on transit today by displaying the above cartoon by Pulitzer prize-winner Tom Toles. The senator’s message parallels Toles’: In a world where the auto industry can get $2 billion more in one week, what’s to be […]

The High-Speed Rail Numbers Game: Is $13 Billion and 110 MPH Enough?

By Elana Schor | Jun 24, 2009 | 11 Comments

High-speed rail is one of the Obama administration’s most prized policy goals, with $13 billion getting earmarked in the coming year alone to help break ground on up to 11 proposed regional corridors. But what will the U.S. get for its money? A lively Senate hearing yesterday attempted to answer that question. Will all 11 […]

Senators Seek Rail Safety Funding in Aftermath of Metro Crash

By Elana Schor | Jun 23, 2009 | 2 Comments

Mere hours after the Washington Metro system suffered a shocking accident, two senior senators released a letter to their colleagues asking for $50 million in grants to improve rail safety technology. The scene of yesterday’s D.C. Metro crash. Photo: NYT The letter was sent by two chairmen with a central role in transportation policy — […]

U.S. DOT Clocks High-Speed Rail at 110 MPH, Give or Take

By Elana Schor | Jun 17, 2009 | 19 Comments

The federal DOT has just released its guidance for states seeking a share of its $8 billion in high-speed rail funding — and tucked in the rules are standards that could prove crucial to the project’s success. Ray LaHood geeks out on French high-speed rail. Photo via The Overhead Wire The definition of high-speed rail […]

LaHood, Biden Meet With Governors on High-Speed Rail

By Elana Schor | Jun 3, 2009 | 15 Comments

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Vice President Biden met at the White House this afternoon with officials from 20 states in contention for funding as part of the Obama administration’s high-speed rail program. The high-speed Midwest Regional Rail Initiative’s proposed reach. (Photo: Michigan Messenger) "This is how the interstate highway system started, folks," Biden told […]

Rail Across America

By Ben Fried | Apr 17, 2009 | 13 Comments

You’ve probably seen this already. It’s the latest graphic representation of the nation’s proposed high-speed rail corridors, and it’s been all over the transportation blogosphere since President Obama stood beside it at a press conference yesterday. Those corridors are likely to change somewhat as the administration refines its new strategy for high-speed rail, says Transport […]

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