Posts Tagged ‘Federal Railroad Administration’

High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION
The HSIPR Program was created to help address the nation’s transportation challenges by making strategic investments in an efficient network of passenger rail corridors that connect communities across the country. These investments focus on three key objectives:

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The Urgency of Reforming the Federal Railroad Administration

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

PEDESTRIAN OBSERVATIONS
House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) has finally come out explicitly in favor of privatizing the Northeast Corridor and letting private consortia bid for high-speed rail construction. Mica’s rationale is that Amtrak is an inefficient government provider, and its proposal for spending $117 billion over 30 years to build high-speed rail in the Northeast is deficient…Not mentioned anywhere in the article is the FRA, which is the real obstacle to modern rail operations. Mica has to my knowledge said nothing about the FRA, which is too bad, since it could feed into the Republican narrative of bad government and the need for privatization and deregulation.

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Joseph Szabo, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Joseph C. Szabo is the twelfth Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Administrator, responsible for overseeing the operations for the eight hundred plus person organization; managing a comprehensive railroad safety assurance program and regulatory initiatives; enforcing railroad safety laws and regulations; developing and implementing national freight and passenger rail policy and financial assistance programs; and overseeing wide-ranging advanced research and development projects in support improved railroad safety.

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Congratulations to FRA on a Sensible Decision

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Two months ago we reported on the railroad industry’s reaction to the FRA’s directive setting forth the terms of the so-called “Stakeholder Agreements.” Those are the agreements between state authorities and Class I railroads that will govern the shared-use freight-passenger rail service in rail corridors receiving federal aid under the Administration’s high-speed rail (HSR) program. The FRA directive stunned and angered railroad executives by what they regarded as unreasonable demands, and burdensome requirements…We are happy to report that reason and good sense have prevailed. In a press conference on August 20, FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo announced that the agency has withdrawn the controversial directive.

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Comments on Preliminary National Rail Plan

Monday, June 21st, 2010

AMERICA 2050
America 2050 launched a research program on highspeed rail in 2009 to provide input and help shape the federal government’s new highspeed intercity passenger rail (HSIPR) program. In September 2009, we released the report “Where High-Speed Rail Works Best,” which discussed factors contributing to ridership demand for high-speed rail. The paper argued that the federal government should focus preliminary ARRA grants in corridors with the greatest passenger demand for high-speed rail service.

Moving forward, our research will continue to focus on success factors in developing high-speed rail systems and strategies for developing a national intercity passenger network. To that end, we offer the following recommendations for the long-term National Rail Plan, focused primarily on the elements of success for passenger rail.

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Is the High Speed Rail Program At Risk?

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Ever since President Obama announced his high speed rail (HSR) program initiative and Congress approved $8 billion to fund it as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009, many States have lined up to stake out a share of the new money. States that had been working on high-speed rail plans for years saw it as an opportunity to finally bring their projects to fruition, while others scrambled to get rail corridor planning underway so that they too could qualify for a share of the pie. The prize looked particularly attractive because the dollars will flow directly to the recipient states without requiring a local match.

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Colorado: High Speed Rail Feasibility Study

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RAIL AUTHORITY
Colorado has a unique transportation challenge. Our mountain resorts and metropolitan areas play a special role as national and international attractions. The vast majority of the state’s commercial and recreational centers are connected by just two major highways, I-70 and I-25. Traffic congestion is increasing in both corridors, impeding travel during weekdays on I-25 and weekends on I-70.

For illustrative purposes, one of those options was further optimized and used to develop a sample implementation plan as part of this report. That implementation plan identifies four potential phases for having high-speed rail operational in Colorado as early as 2021.

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THE HIGH-SPEED RAIL RACE

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

The Federal Railroad Administration is no longer accepting applications for high-speed rail stimulus funds, and it looks like it’s going to take some time for them to sort through all the contestants…

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