Recent Streetsblog USA posts about High-speed rail

Sparks Fly as Lawmaker Grills LaHood on Columbia River Crossing Transit

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 16, 2013 | 35 Comments

From the beginning of today’s hearing, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee made it clear they weren’t going to let Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s last appearance before them be an easy one. While the hearing’s purpose was to examine the department’s budget request, the tough questions LaHood fielded on the budget were nothing compared to […]

Obama’s 2014 Transpo Budget Calls for Higher Spending, HSR

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 10, 2013 | 3 Comments

The Obama Administration has put forward an opening bid in what are sure to be contentious 2014 budget negotiations, issuing a solidly progressive transportation budget that calls for increased overall spending and continued investment in passenger rail. The $76 billion transportation budget would represent a 5.5 percent, or $4 billion, spending increase over 2012 levels. […]

Feds Lay Out Wide-Ranging Visions for the Future of the NE Corridor

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 5, 2013 | 2 Comments

A report released this week by the Federal Railroad Administration outlines 15 possible ways forward for the Northeast Corridor, ranging from building fully separate tracks to accommodate 220 mph bullet trains to simply maintaining the existing infrastructure in a state of good repair. The “preliminary alternatives” were laid out in a report called “NEC Future,” […]

Another Slanted High-Speed Rail Story From Anderson Cooper

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 27, 2013 | 43 Comments

Not one to back away from a terrible argument, CNN’s Anderson Cooper is sticking with his series exposing the “boondoggle” of federal high-speed rail funding. In a segment aired Monday night, he and reporter Drew Griffin hammered away yet again at their argument that high-speed rail has been a waste of money. Under the tagline […]

Mica Won’t Let His Grudge Against Amtrak Die, Revives Privatization Scheme

By Tanya Snyder | Feb 13, 2013 | 6 Comments

Rep. John Mica (R-FL) no longer chairs the House Transportation Committee, but that doesn’t mean he’s eased up on his crusade against Amtrak. Calling the company a “Soviet style monopoly,” Mica used his afternoon address to the U.S. High Speed Rail Association to announce his plan to revive his despised and defeated measure to privatize […]

Keeping CNN Honest: 10 Ways Anderson Cooper Got the Rail Story Wrong

By Tanya Snyder | Jan 31, 2013 | 82 Comments

Last Friday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper ran a segment about high-speed rail as part of his “Keeping Them Honest” series. Reporter Drew Griffin did an “exposé” of a Vermont rail project that spent .00006 percent of the federal stimulus money on needed track improvements and came in on time and under budget. Scandal! It amounts to […]

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