Secretary Pete wants fast trains. He will have to succeed where Obama could not.

Secretary Pete wants fast trains. He will have to succeed where Obama could not.

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U.S. transportation investment has dominated the car since hundreds of billions were spent building the Interstate Highway System in the 20th century. But Buttigieg, who reflects his boss, President Joe Biden (sometimes referred to as “Amtrak Joe”), thanks to his habit of riding the train between his home state of Delaware and Washington, recently spoke of upgrading the U.S. railroad.

“We need to take things to the next level,” Buttigieg told MSNBC last week. “I think we have a real opportunity to do that, especially with the dual-party appetite for real investment we have ahead of us this year.”
Buttigieg has a history of thinking differently about transportation. As mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he has made an effort to reorient downtown around pedestrians and cyclists, rather than motorists. Now he is working on a larger stage and will try to succeed where others have fallen short.

According to Amtrak, in 1959 America had the fastest passenger trains in the world, but now 18 countries are faster than the highest speed option, the Acela, which runs between Boston and Washington DC.

“We have been asked to be content with less in this country,” Buttigieg said in the MSNBC interview. “I just do not know why people in other countries should have better train services and more investment in high-speed train services than Americans.”

A decade ago, Biden and the Obama administration demanded nationwide high-speed rail, but they did not need the necessary funding and political support.

In 2010, the administration unveiled an initial investment of $ 8 billion, as well as $ 5 billion that would be invested over five years. By comparison, Amtrak typically receives less than $ 2 billion a year.

Obama’s initial funding was a significant increase in rail funding, but only a small step toward paying for a national network.

Biden will have to invest much more to meet Buttigieg’s conversation about leading the world. A plan by Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton to build a national high-speed network demanded $ 205 billion over five years. (In this context, the US spends about $ 50 billion a year on highways.)

Obama’s talks about faster trains were not well received in Republican – led states. Governors in Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida have turned down billions of federal funding, and they have put off high-speed projects in those states.

“A big, big disappointment,” was how Ray LaHood, who served as Obama’s first secretary of transportation, described in a CNN interview with CNN this month that he made $ 2.3 billion from using $ 2.3 billion high-speed rails. billion.

LaHood said the project was ready to begin, but then Florida Gov. Rick Scott refused the funding. Scott, now a U.S. senator, said in a statement to CNN Business that he was rejecting the funding because taxpayers in Florida would have to pay hundreds of millions for the project.

Rather, the Obama administration has found interest in California. Construction is underway to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. But initial construction was limited to Central California, far from the major cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. The project has been tainted by challenges, including raising costs, deadlines and reducing Trump administration funding. Additional funding is needed to connect the big cities.
Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High Speed ​​Rail Authority, expressed optimism that the project would attract private sector funding once major obstacles were overcome, such as environmental approvals and land to build on. The private sector has shown greater interest in high-speed railroads over the past few years, with projects underway to connect Houston and Dallas, as well as Las Vegas and greater Los Angeles.

High-speed rail attorneys believe the Biden government is better positioned to succeed given what was taught at the Department of Transportation during the Obama years, when there was less experience with high-speed projects.

“A lot of people had to learn a lot of things very quickly. They did the best they could,” Rick Harnish, executive director of the High Speed ​​Rail Alliance, told CNN Business.

LaHood thinks more U.S. governors would now accept funding, and estimates as many as half would take funding. He feels the biggest obstacle is if the government in Biden can get Congress to fund speed.

According to Moulton, who introduced his bill last year to invest billions in speed, it will be a challenge.

“There will be many lawmakers who would rather repair their local potholes or old bridges than invest in 21st century technology,” Moulton told CNN Business. “We can not waste a generational opportunity by investing in the last generation’s infrastructure.”

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