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Fight to expand America’s passenger train network

It has been a banner year for passenger trains in America, with unprecedented funding for high speed rail and a number of reports linking train investment with job creation.  However, that momentum is threatened by early budget numbers coming out of Congress that, if passed, would lead to the stagnation of Amtrak service and delay the development of high speed trains across the country.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development met on July 1 to mark up a 2011 spending bill which would cut Amtrak funding $833 million—or 32%—below Amtrak’s request, and reduces state grants for high speed and intercity passenger rail to $1.4 billion, almost halving what high speed trains received in 2010.

Yet at the same time, the committee chose to actually increase highway spending $4.1 billion above what the Obama Administration requested!

All this comes when Amtrak is seeing record ridership, and is central in the push to create a national high speed rail network that would transform the way Americans travel.

The good news is it is still early in the budgeting process, and there is time to increase those figures.  But we need your help to make sure we can expand train service and purchase enough equipment to meet soaring demand!

Tell your elected official that the country needs more trains!

From
Ross Capon, president
NARP