That
was the message from Fielding Huseth of Maryland PIRG and Otis Rolley
III,
President and CEO of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance. The two groups gathered today at Baltimore
Penn Station to release The Right Track,
a new research report released by Maryland PIRG.
The
new report analyzes the potential of high speed rail in nine different
regions,
including the Northeast corridor, and presents eleven public-interest
recommendations
for how to spend high speed rail investments in the future. According to data cited in the report, the
completion of a national high-speed rail network would reduce car
travel by 29
million trips and air travel by nearly 500,000 flights annually.
Last month, the
Obama administration announced that 31 states will receive a portion of
$8
billion in funding to build and plan for high speed rail under the
American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Maryland will
receive nearly
$70 million to advance engineering work and studies to replace the
Baltimore
& Potomac Tunnel and construct a new BWI station and platform. Both investments will set up Amtrak to reduce
travel time by an average of four minutes according to a 2009 Amtrak
report.
“This
project might one day be part of a national network of high speed rail
on par
with the bullet trains of Europe and Asia, but it is going to take a
long-term
commitment from all levels of government to plan and fund the system,”
said Fielding
Huseth. “Without such a commitment, this recent momentum could be lost.
We
simply cannot afford a false start on high speed rail.”
“The
report points out that in the 50 years following the passage of the
National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 this country spent
16 times more on highways than rail,” said Otis Rolley III. “We built an interstate highway system that
transformed daily life, commerce and reshaped our cities, suburbs and
regions. In the 21st Century we need another
transformational investment in transportation, and it should reduce
congestion, help cut back on air and water pollution, reduce our
dependence on foreign oil, and improve choices for travel.
Investing in intercity high-speed rail is a sound and necessary
strategy. The $8 billion under ARRA is a good
start. Let's make sure to build on that.”
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