Shumlin calls for federal investment in high speed rail

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin joined governors from across the northeast today in urging the federal government to increase its investment in the nation’s most extensive high speed intercity passenger rail network.
As the current lead governor for Transportation Policy on the Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG), Gov. Shumlin signed a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, signifying that the group collectively supports a set of rail infrastructure projects being submitted by nine states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak for the recently available high speed intercity passenger rail grant funds. The eight CONEG Governors* were joined by Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.
‘The projects that our states and Amtrak are submitting today will contribute to more reliable and improved passenger rail service in the near term,’ said Gov. Shumlin.
Vermont’s application for extending the Western Corridor Amtrak service, the Ethan Allen Express, north from Rutland to Burlington, a top priority for Vermont, is among the projects submitted.
‘Together, the projects lay the foundation for future intercity service that has higher speeds, reduced travel times, expanded service on the entire 11 state network,’ Gov. Shumlin said. ‘These projects, identified through a lengthy consultative process among the states, the District and Amtrak, continue our region’s long tradition of regional coordination and cooperation for passenger rail.’
These projects are vital for the reliability and capacity of the current network, and are critical building blocks for expanded, higher speed and next generation intercity passenger rail service. Equally important, they will contribute to jobs in the near-term and sustained economic growth in cities and towns throughout the region. Vermont’s project is among those that are ‘ready-to-go’ final design and construction projects, with track, road bed, and grade crossing improvements that can be implemented quickly and will promptly generate direct and indirect jobs. Others are engineering and environmental assessment projects for new tunnels, bridges, and stations improvements that will eventually increase the ability of the network to handle more and faster intercity passenger trains.
The proposed projects are located on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) Network ‘ four linked passenger rail corridors that connect cities and communities in the nation’s most populous region, link them to Canada and states west and south. The 14 million intercity passenger riders who use the NEC Network account for approximately 50 percent of Amtrak’s total national ridership and almost 60 percent of its ticket revenues. The northeast ridership is expected to increase to 26 million riders by 2030.
The four corridors that connect the 11 northeast states and the District are the:
* NEC Corridor serving Boston-New York City-Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C;
* Keystone Corridor linking Harrisburg, PA to Philadelphia and New York City;
* Empire Corridor serving New York City and Albany, NY; and
* Northern New England Corridor, including the Downeaster Service linking Portland, ME and Boston; the Springfield/Knowledge Corridor linking New Haven and Hartford CT, to Springfield MA and traversing VT from southeast to northwest; and the Western Corridor linking Burlington, Middlebury, and Rutland, VT to the Empire Corridor.
Source: Shumlin's office. 4.4.2011
*The CONEG Governors are Dannel P. Malloy (CT), Paul R. LePage (ME), Deval L. Patrick (MA) Chairman, John H. Lynch (NH), Chris Christie (NJ), Andrew M. Cuomo (NY), Lincoln D. Chafee (RI) Vice-Chairman, and Peter Shumlin (VT).