Congress increasing high-speed rail funding

House proposes $4b in 2010

Steve Hawley, Jul 31, 09.

Both houses of Congress are working to increase high-speed rail funding in the next year, according to the Associated Press and Streetsblog.

The AP notes that the House recently approved a bill allotting $4 billion to high-speed rail in the next year, although $2 billion could be siphoned off into a national infrastructure bank. Meanwhile, Streetsblog reports that a Senate panel has proposed $1.2 billion in high-speed rail funding. The Obama administration, which jump-started high-speed rail projects with $8 billion in stimulus money, had only requested $1 billion per year over the next five years.

According to the AP, the stimulus money created “huge demand” for high-speed rail projects, and 40 states applied for projects worth over $100 billion. The Texas Department of Transportation requested $1.9 billion for the Texas T-Bone route, although the state appears unlikely to receive any funds initially.