Fed to invest $13 billion in nationwide high-speed rail project

Four months after unveiling a high-speed rail plan for the United States, the federal government is now allocating money to get the ball rolling.

The White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday said it will invest $8 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and $1 billion a year for five years as a down payment to develop a passenger rail system and put the transportation policy on the right track.


Georgia is one of the states where rail corridors would be established.

Overall, the program will have 10 high-speed rail corridors that would be potential recipients of federal funding. Those lines are: California, Pacific Northwest, Chicago Hub Network, Florida, Southeast, Keystone, Empire and Northern New England. Also, opportunities exist for the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston to compete for funds to improve the nation’s only existing high-speed rail service.

“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,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “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.”

There will be two types of projects for funding under the government’s plan -- create new corridors for world-class high-speed rail like that found in Europe and Japan, and make train service along existing rail lines incrementally faster.

Funding for the projects would be broken down by:

• Individual projects: Providing grants to complete individual projects that are “ready to go” with completed environmental and preliminary engineering work — with an emphasis on near-term job creation. Eligible projects include acquisition, construction of or improvements to infrastructure, facilities and equipment.

• Corridor programs: Developing entire phases or geographic sections of high-speed rail corridors that have completed corridor plans, environmental documentation and have a prioritized list of projects to help meet the corridor objectives. • Planning: Entering into cooperative agreements for planning activities (including development of corridor plans and state rail plans) using non-American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) appropriations funds. This third approach is intended to help establish a structured mechanism and funding stream for future corridor development activities.

Funds could be awarded as early as this summer, according to the government.