John Hennessy III,
P.E.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sits down for a conversation with jazz legend Wynton Marsalis. Mr. Marsalis shares stories about streetcar rides with his great-uncle in 1960s New Orleans, the significance of trains in American mythology, and how the sounds of transportation continue to inspire his music today.
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Financing the various rail infrastructure projects will be challenging. Congress has not funded the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program—a program used to fund passenger rail projects—since fiscal year 2010 and appropriations to Amtrak have remained relatively steady at about $1.4 billion over the last 5 years. One potential source of funding is FRA’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program, which is a $35 billion loan and loan guarantee program to finance, among other things, freight and passenger rail facilities. Since program inception in 1998 about $2.7 billion in loans have been executed, and no loan guarantees have been made.
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ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RAILROADS
This report, the second in the Association of American Railroads’ State of the Industry series, for the first time ever, shares data that begin to quantify the freight railroad sector’s economic and fiscal impact. The findings underscore the fact that freight railroads trigger a powerful economic ripple effect across a myriad of U.S. industries.
Video details the history, mission and accomplishments of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
View this complete post...COMMON GOOD
Two new rail tunnels need to be built under the Hudson River to alleviate a critical rail bottleneck and permit overhaul of century-old tunnels. The purpose of this report is to outline the economic and environmental costs of different permitting timetables, and to propose approval mechanisms that will save taxpayers billions and avoid significant environmental harm.
THE CENTURY FOUNDATION
The next president will need to create a true and comprehensive vision of America’s transportation infrastructure, a program to pursue that vision, and honest mechanisms to fund it. This report addresses the new principles that should serve as a foundation for a future transportation program that will enable America to meet its potential.
MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project has matured to the point that initial design of segments in the Central Valley was started in 2014, beginning the long process of completing the California HSR program. One significant concern that many communities involved in, or affected by, the California HSR project have is how to connect the new HSR passenger services to local urban transport, such as bus and light rail. The route and stations for the first segment of the HSR system are well known, but many questions remain about how HSR will be integrated into the existing (and future) California transportation system.
MIDWEST INTERSTATE PASSENGER RAIL COMMISSION
The survey identifies strong support for passenger rail as an integral piece of the national transportation future, and even finds strong willingness to advocate on behalf of passenger rail. But the survey also shows that neither students nor – by inference – the general public are aware of the roles played by states and the federal government in funding Amtrak and in determining passenger rail routes and service frequencies. Thus we strongly recommend that a public education campaign be considered to clarify this point.
Since its opening in May 2014, SunRail has proved a practical alternative to I-4, the region’s main thoroughfare. The initial 31 miles of Phase 1 of the SunRail Commuter Rail System serve passengers at 12 different stations across eight different cities in Central Florida, from DeBary in the north to Sand Lake Road in the south. On average, 3,700 Central Floridians ride the train per day.
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