# BIDEN / LaHOOD Announcement



## Shanghai (May 9, 2011)

Below is a posting I received from NARP today regarding

the announcement made by Ray LaHood and Joe Biden at NYP

today regarding the reallocation of HSR Federal appropriations

that were rejected by Florida.

o *Amtrak* – $450 million for Northeast Corridor power, signal, track, and catenary improvements. Will boost capacity, reliability, and speed in one of the most heavily-traveled sections of the Northeast Corridor, creating a 24-mile segment of track capable of supporting train speeds up to 160-mph.

o *New York *– $295 million for a bypass around Harold Interlocking in Queens on the Northeast Corridor, alleviating major delays for trains coming in and out of Manhattan by separating Amtrak from Long Island Railroad traffic.

o *Regional Equipment Pools *– $268.2 million to purchase 48 high-performance passenger rail cars and seven quick-acceleration locomotives for eight corridors in the Midwestern States. $68 million to acquire 15 high-performance passenger rail cars and 4 quick-acceleration locomotives for the Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin, and Capitol Corridors in California.

0 *Illinois* – $186.3 million to upgrade the Chicago - St. Louis Corridor, with trains operating at 110 mph for more than 220 miles of track.

o *Michigan* – $196.5 million to rehabilitate track and signal systems, increaseing train speeds to 110 mph on a 235-mile section of the Chicago to Detroit corridor, reducing trip times by 30 minutes.

o *California* – $300 million more for the nation’s first 220-mph high-speed rail system, extending the already-funded 110-mile segment an additional 20 miles “to advance completion of the Central Valley project, the backbone of the [planned] Los Angeles to San Francisco corridor.”

What happened to the funds for New Jersey???

More details are on the Dept of Transportation website.


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## Shanghai (May 9, 2011)

Also, in line with our government leadership in the past few years,

of the $2.02 Billion allocated to Amtrak and HSR projects, $909 Billion

will have to be borrowed by the Treasury Department, most likely from

China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

More for us and our children and grandchildren to repay!!


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## Trogdor (May 9, 2011)

Shanghai said:


> I made a mistake in the post above. The sub-title should have
> 
> read "2.02 Billion" not Million.
> 
> ...


Let's not pretend that deficits just started in 2009 (or even in 2001).



> most likely from China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.


Or within the US, which is where most of the federal debt is held.


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## Tracktwentynine (May 9, 2011)

Shanghai said:


> *Amtrak* – $450 million for Northeast Corridor power, signal, track, and catenary improvements. Will boost capacity, reliability, and speed in one of the most heavily-traveled sections of the Northeast Corridor, creating a 24-mile segment of track capable of supporting train speeds up to 160-mph.
> ...
> 
> What happened to the funds for New Jersey???


The $450M for the NEC's power/signal/catenary is in New Jersey. However, Amtrak is the awardee, not the state of New Jersey.


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## jis (May 9, 2011)

Tracktwentynine said:


> Shanghai said:
> 
> 
> > *Amtrak* – $450 million for Northeast Corridor power, signal, track, and catenary improvements. Will boost capacity, reliability, and speed in one of the most heavily-traveled sections of the Northeast Corridor, creating a 24-mile segment of track capable of supporting train speeds up to 160-mph.
> ...


Correct. New Jersey had not applied for any grant. It had promised to pay $150 million of the $271 million that it owes the FTA as NJ state contribution to the Portal Bridge project if that grant request for $570 million for it made by Amtrak had come through. Talk about creative accounting  We owe you the money so we will arrange to pay it to ourselves instead 

Did you all notice that among the many grant requests that did not get funded is the one that needed matching funds from NJ ? I surmise that Portal is on the shelf as long as NJ does not pay up the $271 million it owes FTA. So until Christie loses an election or otherwise decided to exit left, there will be no Portal replacement.


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## AlanB (May 9, 2011)

Trogdor said:


> Shanghai said:
> 
> 
> > I made a mistake in the post above. The sub-title should have
> ...


Actually the Federal fuel tax was enacted in 1932 by then Presiden Herbert Hoover not to build roads, but to help pay down the Federal deficit. Congress & President Eisenhower borrowed the fuel tax in 1956 to build Ike's dream of the Interestate Highway system. That tax was supposed to return back to its primary purpose in 1972, but to date Congress has not allowed that to happen.


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## jis (May 9, 2011)

You can find considerable amount of good and informative discussion on this subject on this other thread:

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/37344-florida-hsr-funds-sought/page__st__60

Where this discussion was ongoing when this new thread was started.


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## Nexis4Jersey (May 9, 2011)

jis said:


> You can find considerable amount of good and informative discussion on this subject on this other thread:
> 
> http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/37344-florida-hsr-funds-sought/page__st__60
> 
> Where this discussion was ongoing when this new thread was started.


From what i heard the Portal Bridge is half funded , and prep work has started....from what ic...


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## jis (May 9, 2011)

Nexis4Jersey said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > You can find considerable amount of good and informative discussion on this subject on this other thread:
> ...


You heard wrong. It currently has zero funding.


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## transit54 (May 9, 2011)

AlanB said:


> Actually the Federal fuel tax was enacted in 1932 by then President Herbert Hoover not to build roads, but to help pay down the Federal deficit. Congress & President Eisenhower borrowed the fuel tax in 1956 to build Ike's dream of the Interestate Highway system. That tax was supposed to return back to its primary purpose in 1972, but to date Congress has not allowed that to happen.


That has to be one of the most fascinating and interesting facts I've heard this year. I had always assumed the fuel tax was a product of the interstate highway system. As always, your insight is very much appreciated.


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## Trogdor (May 9, 2011)

AlanB said:


> Actually the Federal fuel tax was enacted in 1932 by then Presiden Herbert Hoover not to build roads, but to help pay down the Federal deficit. Congress & President Eisenhower borrowed the fuel tax in 1956 to build Ike's dream of the Interestate Highway system. That tax was supposed to return back to its primary purpose in 1972, but to date Congress has not allowed that to happen.


Nonetheless, from the Depression (I forget which year, specifically) through 1996, no president had managed to balance the federal budget every year of a term. Clinton did it for his second term (FYs 1997-2001).

Prior to Clinton, nobody had balanced the budget at all since the late 60s, and you had to go back to the 50s to find the last time the federal budget was balanced for consecutive years.

Point is, with a couple of sporadic exceptions, federal deficits have been a way of life in the US since the days of Roosevelt (and perhaps earlier, again I forget the exact year the string of deficits started).


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## AlanB (May 9, 2011)

transit54 said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Actually the Federal fuel tax was enacted in 1932 by then President Herbert Hoover not to build roads, but to help pay down the Federal deficit. Congress & President Eisenhower borrowed the fuel tax in 1956 to build Ike's dream of the Interestate Highway system. That tax was supposed to return back to its primary purpose in 1972, but to date Congress has not allowed that to happen.
> ...


Thanks! 

Should you wish further info on that, may I suggest the following:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/gastax.cfm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States

http://cdn.publicinterestnetwork.org/assets/28b773b9f18cdb23da3e48a8d7884854/Do-Roads-Pay-for-Themselves_-wUS.pdf

The last one talks about far more than just when the taxes got started, but it has some very interesting info!


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## j653 (May 10, 2011)

US debt levels are being way overblown. The US can borrow at great rates ... so why not? Private industry does it all the time. It's just politics, folks. When it comes to economics, listen to economists, not politicians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_public_debt


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