$19 billion in dedicated funding for rail as President Obama lays out vision for 21st century transportation infrastructure.

Obaba Image Train

President Barack Obama shakes hands with a worker as he and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx tour the Metro Transit Light Rail Operations and Maintenance Facility in St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 26, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

February 26th  saw US President Barack Obama speak at the historic Union Depot train station in Saint Paul, Minnesota and launch a competition for $600 million in competitive transportation funding and outline his vision for investing in America’s infrastructure with a $302 billion, four year surface transportation re-authorization proposal. Railways are a major part of the the programme along with other aspects of public transport and will also work with Congress to act to ensure critical transportation programs continue to be funded and do not expire later this year.

The proposal increases average transit spending by nearly 70 percent annually, for a total program of $72 billion over four years, which will enable the expansion of new projects (e.g., light rail, street cars, bus rapid transit, etc.) in suburbs, fast-growing cities, small towns, and aging rural communities, while still maintaining existing transit systems.Whilst $19 billion in dedicated funding for rail programs including nearly $5 of billion annually for high performance and passenger rail programs with a focus on improving the connections between key regional city pairs and high traffic corridors throughout the country.

Continue reading

Changes ahead for how crude oil is transported by rail in the US.

oil-train

Oil transporting train (Source: http://globalnews.ca)

U.S. transportation officials have confirmed plans to press companies to come up with safer ways to transport oil by rail following a series of explosive accidents. Following a series of fiery accidents of the past year in North Dakota, Quebec, Alabama and New Brunswick pressure was mounting on the government to act. And with the transport of crude oil by rail growing across North America, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx held a closed door-meeting with oil and railroad executives yesterday resulting in the industry agreeing to make voluntary changes to improve safety within the next 30 days. Measures developed could be altering some routes to avoid highly-populated areas and slowing down trains in high risk areas.

Continue reading