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The Obama administration awarded $2 billion in grants yesterday for 22 passenger rail projects including upgrades to Amtrak lines in the Northeast and Midwest and the start of construction on a bullet-train project in California, according to an article by Josh Mitchell in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal.
The funds were freed up when the governor of Florida canceled a fast-train project from Tampa to Orlando in February.
The $2 billion is the final award the administration will make from a $10 billion high-speed rail program and the announcement drew criticism from House Republican leaders who questioned both the decision to divide the money into so many different grants and the fact that many of the projects will benefit Amtrak, the article said.
"Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said the projects would not significantly reduce trip times but were necessary to eventually bring high-speed rail to the U.S., the article said, adding that "Amtrak received $450 million, mostly to upgrade a heavily traveled route between Morrisville, Pa., and New Brunswick, N.J....Amtrak will also redesign track switches to increase train speeds and the flow of traffic heading into New York's Penn Station."
An article in today's edition of The New York Times by Patrick McGeehan said that Amtrak plans to spend about $295 million of the money to organize what Senator Charles Schumer called the "spaghetti" of "tracks on the Queens side of the East River tunnels," adding that "those upgrades would allow Amtrak to avoid delays by passing slower Long Island Rail Road trains."
The funds were freed up when the governor of Florida canceled a fast-train project from Tampa to Orlando in February.
The $2 billion is the final award the administration will make from a $10 billion high-speed rail program and the announcement drew criticism from House Republican leaders who questioned both the decision to divide the money into so many different grants and the fact that many of the projects will benefit Amtrak, the article said.
"Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said the projects would not significantly reduce trip times but were necessary to eventually bring high-speed rail to the U.S., the article said, adding that "Amtrak received $450 million, mostly to upgrade a heavily traveled route between Morrisville, Pa., and New Brunswick, N.J....Amtrak will also redesign track switches to increase train speeds and the flow of traffic heading into New York's Penn Station."
An article in today's edition of The New York Times by Patrick McGeehan said that Amtrak plans to spend about $295 million of the money to organize what Senator Charles Schumer called the "spaghetti" of "tracks on the Queens side of the East River tunnels," adding that "those upgrades would allow Amtrak to avoid delays by passing slower Long Island Rail Road trains."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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