Thanks to the efforts of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, New York was recently allocated an additional $7.3 million in high-speed rail funding.
The funding was a portion of the stimulus money originally awarded to Ohio and Wisconsin for building high-speed rail systems. The newly elected governors of these two states chose to turn down this money, leaving it in the hands of the Department of Transportation.
"If other states don't want their high-speed rail money, New York will take it because we understand that high-speed rail is an essential element to our transportation system and a good rail system is an important element of our national security," said Slaughter. She reached out to the U.S. D.O.T. Deputy Secretary John Porcari and U.S. D.O.T. Secretary Ray LaHood, with whom she had previously collaborated on high-speed rail.
The D.O.T allocated the surplus money to 13 states. New York ranked fourth amongst these states, receiving twice the amount of funding that was given to Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, North Carolina, Iowa and Indiana.
"I've been advocating for this extra money for New York for months," said Slaughter. "I'm delighted that New York is able to take advantage of this additional stimulus money to build high-speed passenger rail stretching across the state."
Slaughter has made high-speed rail a priority in her work. She hopes these efforts will lead to improvements to existing rail and the addition of a third track for passenger trains. This, in turn, would result in more efficient travel and an increase in commerce and tourism potential.
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The funding was a portion of the stimulus money originally awarded to Ohio and Wisconsin for building high-speed rail systems. The newly elected governors of these two states chose to turn down this money, leaving it in the hands of the Department of Transportation.
"If other states don't want their high-speed rail money, New York will take it because we understand that high-speed rail is an essential element to our transportation system and a good rail system is an important element of our national security," said Slaughter. She reached out to the U.S. D.O.T. Deputy Secretary John Porcari and U.S. D.O.T. Secretary Ray LaHood, with whom she had previously collaborated on high-speed rail.
The D.O.T allocated the surplus money to 13 states. New York ranked fourth amongst these states, receiving twice the amount of funding that was given to Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oregon, North Carolina, Iowa and Indiana.
"I've been advocating for this extra money for New York for months," said Slaughter. "I'm delighted that New York is able to take advantage of this additional stimulus money to build high-speed passenger rail stretching across the state."
Slaughter has made high-speed rail a priority in her work. She hopes these efforts will lead to improvements to existing rail and the addition of a third track for passenger trains. This, in turn, would result in more efficient travel and an increase in commerce and tourism potential.
7.3 mil is about enough for 1/2 mile of light rail. awesome.
Or we can keep complaining about how nothing ever gets done as the stimulus money goes toward helping new england states in continuing to trump new york in infrastructure. Its money. shush.
Cali got $624 million and Fla got $342 from the Wisconsin and Ohio reallocation (in addition to the hundreds of millions they had already received). NYS got $7 million.
Of course take it. If those guys dont want it fine. But this just reinforces that NYS still isnt on the ball enough to warrant enough money to build a mile of track. Its like getting a 30% on a test. Sure, its not a zero, but not exactly something to be proud of.
Yes, Im in a bit of a mood today.
It's better than nothing! I'm glad LaHood is holding the governors-elect of Ohio and Wisconsin to their words, and moving the rail money to other rail projects in states that are enthusiastic about rail instead of letting them divert it to highway spending.
It sucks for the people of Ohio and Wisconsin, though. Talgo is shutting down their manufacturing plant in Milwaukee (about 125 jobs) because of Walker's decision to reject the federal rail funds.
Sean, there are already four trains a day from NYC to Buffalo. The trip takes about 8-9 hours, but it's relaxing and definitely beats being stuck in a motel overnight.