USA -Economic Stimulus for rail??? Or not???

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

During the elections, was much hype about how pro-rail the new President was. Given that the Vice President also was allegedly pro-rail, a lot of people felt the future looked rosy.

Are developments since then bearing this out?

Well, there was a lot of hype when both the President and the Vice President traveled by train for the Presidential Inauguration. This was the first time this had happened since Eisenhower had travelled to his inauguration by train in 1953.

Good news for rail?

Well, the House Transport and Infrastructure Committee, have now put a $ 825 billion US dollar Economic Stimulus Package together, and despite expressions of support from both the President and Vice President, guess what?

$ 1.1 billion has been allocated to rail.

Lest this be thought a lot remember that this is 0.13% of the total, and further analysis shows how weak this effort really is, as…………………of the rail portion $ 800 million goes to Amtrak to service capital and debt service, this despite the fact that these funds are not meant to subsidize operating losses.

The remaining 300 million is the balance that now goes to rail infrastructure projects.

This really means that nothing whatsoever has actually changed since the previous administration (so far anyway), and underlines the fact that legislators are unwilling or unable to grasp the importance of rail in the US as part of a balanced National transportation policy.

Would that everyone is wrong in this assumption!

[John Ashworth]

Kevin, is this link to the Department of Transport Federal Railroad Administration relevant?

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Yes this - it actually shows the political promises that have been made and makes interesting reading.

It can be use as a benchmark in the future to measure progress!