stimulus funds for high speed rail?

Anyone know when the 8 billion in high speed rail stimulus will be released...first it was suppose to be in the fall of 09..latest was winter of 2010...any ideas??

I've heard from people who would know that we may hear something in the next 60 days.

northjerseybuff wrote:Anyone know when the 8 billion in high speed rail stimulus will be released...first it was suppose to be in the fall of 09..latest was winter of 2010...any ideas??

My guess would be whenever the annoucement is calculated to make the most political impact to best influence the fall elections. At that time, expect a big press conference with some nice visuals, rosey new employment predictions, and not a lot of solid timetable for the actual work to be done.

I think there's a deadline for some of the funds to be announced by February 17th.

My current thinking is that the Administration will try to get health care passed first. They will probably set a deadline of the first week of February to get that done. I wouldn't be surprised to see Congress held in session to pass the health care bill during the weekend of the unmentionable NFL championship game. (The name of the game is trademarked and cannot be used without the express, written consent of the National Football League, and is therefore unmentionable).

Then the second week of February, I expect the President to give his State of the Union address followed by a flurry of announcements, all before the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Now it doesn't look like the health care bill will be done in time for the State of the Union address, so the speech has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 27th. On the 28th, President Obama and Amtrak Joe are scheduled to be in the Tampa Bay area.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/01/ ... orida.html

I heard they will be announced during the state of the union address.

Maybe before the end of the month. I think Florida is still in the hunt for funds too.
Noel Weaver

Word is the Pres and Biden are making a trip to Tampa Bay sometime next weekish. My bet is on Florida getting a full two billion to make its rail proposal a reality. I think it makes sense to give FL the money too; even if I am pissed that the trains will only go to Disney World and the Orlando airport. The public actually needs to see a system get built. All the other proposals would just be receiving money for more "studies," etc.

Wisconsin has ordered the Talgos, and they seem pretty far along. I hope the Midwest gets something substantial.

Suburban Station wrote:I heard they will be announced during the state of the union address.

If the distribution of some or most of the $8 billion HSR ARRA funds will be included in the state of the union address, the amounts and which states get them will be, at a minimum, "leaked" with off the record briefing statements on Tuesday, no later than the morning of the speech. The Dept. of Transportation may go ahead and put out an announcement ahead of the speech. There are few surprises in the State of the Union address by the time the President gives it; SOP is to put out the information ahead of the actual speech.

With states having submitted some $50 billion in applications chasing a $8 billion pot, many posters on this and other passenger rail forums who think their state or region should get a piece of the funding will be disappointed. Besides the big amounts likely to go to California for the only true HSR project, the Mid-West for one or more Chicago hub routes, and apparently Florida, I hope the Dept of Transportation sets aside $1 to $1.5 billion to be split among the smaller applications for projects that directly benefit or extend existing Amtrak service. Fund some of the smaller $20 to $50-70 million projects to double or triple track a line here, restore/rebuild a few miles of degraded track there, straighten some track, or restore a station for expanded or faster service. Those projects are closer to shovel ready and will show some benefits, albeit not highly visible in most cases, for more reliable or even additional Amtrak service in the next several years.

It does appear that the USDOT is going to fund the proposed Orlando to Tampa HSR line. I don't think it's the best place to spend the money (lack of local connectivity, fragile political support from the citizens and legislature, fairly low ridership expectations, etc.), but I think LaHood wants to build a true HSR demonstration project that can be operational for about $2 billion. Other states could look at the TPA-ORL corridor, see the benefits and get in line for their own HSR. (Let's hope the trains are full and profitable, who will pay the operational subsidy if the project doesn't cover its costs?) The Tampa to Orlando project would also be the laboratory for HSR regulations and operations practices. Chicago to St. Louis or Detroit would be much stronger in terms of ridership, but those projects would cost more than $2 bn to build. Other HSR corridor proposals that could be built for $2 bn are in places like Portland to Eugene or Oklahoma City to Tulsa, neither of which makes sense at this time. So Tampa to Orlando it will be. If CA gets the rumored $4 bn that leaves $2 bn to spread around in the other corridors, which won't do much to improve existing services while we wait for Florida's bullet trains to start rolling.

If Orlando-Tampa HSR is to be funded under ARRA '09 at a level meaningful enough to have the project move forth, I would hope that to "slap the Bush's in the face" is not a reason for such. But in view of the "snipes" that our President has taken to date at his predecessor (starting with the Inaugural Address), I cannot rule such out.

disclaimers; author's Mother was a campaign worker for Sen. Prescott Bush (R-CT); author has also met "George XLI" face to face at church once during the '50's.

There may be different You tube videos with Ray LaHood. There may be a 4 way split of some funds, with California, the Midwest, Southeast & the NEC as winners. At the same time, there may be other funds from the Amtrak capital allocations to fund other projects. There may also be a 2nd stimulus bill this year with more "shovel ready" projects. I hope we don't have to add up 48 DOT's + Amtrak to get a better picture of money spent for passenger rail.

I also think it'll be announced in Tampa next week. We know for sure that Florida is getting money, and its 99% likely that California will as well. The only question is....who gets the rest?

Vincent wrote:(Let's hope the trains are full and profitable, who will pay the operational subsidy if the project doesn't cover its costs?) The Tampa to Orlando project would also be the laboratory for HSR regulations and operations practices. Chicago to St. Louis or Detroit would be much stronger in terms of ridership, but those projects would cost more than $2 bn to build. Other HSR corridor proposals that could be built for $2 bn are in places like Portland to Eugene or Oklahoma City to Tulsa, neither of which makes sense at this time. So Tampa to Orlando it will be. If CA gets the rumored $4 bn that leaves $2 bn to spread around in the other corridors, which won't do much to improve existing services while we wait for Florida's bullet trains to start rolling.

You have to give FL credit for being shovel-ready. It serves downtown Tampa which is nice, and leaves the option open for further extension (at great cost) to St. Petersburg. I do question its usability as a laboratory, though. The top speeds will be somewhere between 150 and 160mph. That is significantly different from the 220mph that is planned in California.