Obama wants $13 billion for high-speed rail

President Obama said Thursday he wants to spend $13 billion for high-speed rail systems throughout the country to create jobs and reduce gridlock and pollution.

Mr. Obama has already allocated $8 billion for such systems in his $787 billion economic stimulus package, but said Thursday he plans to ask Congress for an additional $5 billion over the next five years “as a down payment to jump-start a potential world-class passenger rail system and set the direction of transportation policy for the future.”

“Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city,” Mr. Obama at the White House press conference. “No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes. This is not some fanciful, pie-in-the-sky vision of the future. It’s happening now. The problem is that it’s happening elsewhere.”

The president cited France, Spain, China and Japan as world leaders in high-speed rail transportation, including Japan’s second-generation system with trains capable of reaching speeds of 300 mph.

The plan isn’t without detractors. Randal O’Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, said high-speed rail is only marginally faster than existing rail systems and less environmentally friendly than stated.

“Americans who have ridden French or Japanese high-speed trains often wonder why such trains won’t work here,” Mr. O’Toole said. “The problem is, they don’t work that well in France or Japan.”

The term “high-speed train” generally means those that can go roughly 100 mph.

The president’s plan will focus first on upgrading existing rail systems, then creating 10 major corridors throughout the country.

He said some groups already have submitted plans, but funds for projects will be awarded on merit, like the system for infrastructure money in the stimulus package.

The Federal Railroad Administration will begin awarding the first round of grants by late summer.

The plans call for networks of 100 to 600 miles of railway.

The 10 corridors are:

• California: San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego

• Pacific Northwest: Eugene, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Vancouver, B.C.

• South Central: Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Little Rock

• Gulf Coast Corridor: Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Birmingham, Atlanta

• Chicago Hub Network: Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville

• Florida: Orlando, Tampa, Miami

• Southeast: Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Macon, Columbia, Savannah, Jacksonville

• Keystone: Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh

• Empire: New York, Albany, Buffalo

• Northern New England: Boston, Montreal, Portland, Springfield, New Haven, Albany

The president also said the was a possibility for the Northeast Corridor — from Washington to Boston — to compete for money to improve the county’s only existing high-speed rail service, Amtrak’s 9-year-old Acela Express.

“We must start developing clean, energy-efficient transportation that will define our regions for centuries to come,” Mr. Obama said. “A major new high-speed rail line will generate many thousands of construction jobs over several years, as well as permanent jobs for rail employees and increased economic activity in the destinations these trains serve. High-speed rail is long overdue, and this plan lets American travelers know that they are not doomed to a future of long lines at the airports or jammed cars on the highways.”