Transportation Choices Campaign

legislation needed

  Toxic styrene leak in 2005 from rail
  tanker near Eastern Ave. in Cincinnati

Our nation’s 571 railroads carry more than forty percent of our freight, including seventy percent of all newly manufactured automobiles, thirty percent of the grain and sixty-five percent of the coal produced in the U.S. In 2003, Mr.Ryan Walsh, Republican of the 21st District of New York, introduced the National Rail Infrastructure Act. Congress never acted on this bill but it is still needed. Here is the bill submitted in 2003:

A BILL: To construct a high speed rail system through the United States and for other purposes.

I. High Speed Rail Study
(A) Amtrack shall immediately conduct a study to determine the best technical specifications for a high speed rail system that operates in excess of 200 miles per hour.
(B) This system shall be implemented to serve every city in the lower 48 states with a population of over 100,000.

II. Implementation
(A) A high speed rail system shall be constructed to serve the lower 48 states of the United States.
(B) The first route to be constructed shall be the existing 'Northeast Corridor' route.
(C) The first leg of the High Speed Rail System shall be New York City, Grand Central Station to Union Station in Washington DC.
(D) Phase I of this project shall consist of linking Boston to Washington DC.
(E) Phase II of this project shall link New York City to Chicago with intermediate stops in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, NY.
(F) Phase III and beyond will be constructed according to the study commissioned in Section I of this legislation.

III. Funding and Regulatory Authority
(A) Amtrack shall issue "Amtrack Bonds" to finance construction of this project.
(B) All Amtrack Bonds shall be repaid within a period, not to exceed, 10 years.
(C) Amtrack Bonds shall be considered an 'off budget' item for purposes of Budget and debt calculation.
(D) The board of governors of Amtrack shall have authority to make regulations necessary to carry out this legislation.