The tentative results of the destination of $8 Billion for high-speed rail are in. To give you some background on the state of high-speed rail in the USA, check out this Wired article with lots of pictures (courtesy of Pazzler.)
The results?
- Florida and California are the big winners - as marked by Obama giving the official announcement in Tampa later today.
- Maglev is dead.
- Philadelphia to Harrisburg will get about $26 Million with Harrisburg to Pittsburgh getting another $750,000 for research studies.
- Ohio is getting $400 Million to link Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton.
Pittsburgh, it's time to embrace our midwest location. Governor Rendell (and his succeeding governor) are not going to suddenly realize that Pittsburgh is a gem hidden in the rough. We are only 2 1/2 hours from Cleveland. Let's jump on the Ohio bandwagon and ultimately connect ourselves to Chicago in less time than it takes to get to Philadelphia. Now is the time for leadership and inter-state cooperation. In the next round of rail funding, there needs to be a request for improved Pittsburgh to Cleveland rail. Otherwise, we will be left in the dust.
2 comments:
PennDOT and Ohio DOT have officially requested to have the segment between Cleveland and Pittsburgh designated as an official high speed rail corridor (which it currently is not). The decision is pending with FRA (Federal Railroad Administration).
How can we influence the FRA's process? The idea of a Pittsburgh — Chicago connection blows my mind... we could be shockingly relevant again.
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