A high speed rail line has been proposed from Omaha through Des Moines and
Iowa City and on to Chicago as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.
This would use the corridor owned by the Iowa Interstate Railroad, formerly
owned by the Rock Island Railroad.

Presently Des Moines, Iowa City, and other towns along the entire corridor
through Iowa along Interstate 80 have no passenger rail service. In winter
conditions, when the Interstate highways are deadly, we are denied the option
of safe, energy-efficient rail travel. The new rail bill, discussed below,
may provide funds to correct this problem.
Tom

Subj:    High Speed Rail Investment Act
Date:   01-02-01 10:27:50 EST
From:   [log in to unmask] (NARP)
Reply-to:   [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask] (NARP)

To NARP Members--January 31, 2001:

The new $12 billion High Speed Rail Investment Act was unveiled at a
Capitol Hill news conference this afternoon.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) opened the conference by noting: "We owe it to
the country...because our transportation system is already stretched to
the breaking point...High speed rail has to be part of our long-term
environmental policy, part of urban planning, part of our nation’s
future."

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) followed, saying, in part: "We want to
make Amtrak a truly national rail system.  I think George Warrington is
really committed to that, and I think he can do that if we give him the
tools...Some of my colleagues think this is another subsidy for Amtrak.
There isn’t a transportation system that isn’t  subsidized...Rail is the
least subsidized to the point of ridiculousness...Air traffic
congestion is at an all-time high...It will get worse over the next 10
years...Highway expansion is very expensive and sometimes
environmentally untenable.  We’ve got to have an intermodal
transportation system that includes rail."

The bill's value has been increased from $10 billion to $12 billion. It
has 51 original co-sponsors (up from 22 when S.1900 was introduced in
late 1999), including Senators Lott and Daschle.

The new bill (whose number was expected to be S.250) lets Amtrak sell
$12 billion in bonds (rather than $10 billion) over ten years.  The 20%
state match must be in place before bonds can be sold for a particular
project.  There is a $3 billion cap on the amount any one corridor can
receive, and a $1 billion cap on the total amount that can go to lines
other than the Northeast Corridor and corridors that DOT has designated
under ISTEA and TEA-21 as high-speed rail corridors.

Bondholders would get federal tax credits rather than interest
payments.

Under HSRIA, the designations become much more meaningful than they are
now.  HSRIA is the best opportunity for the federal government to
provide an incentive for state investment (as highways and transit
enjoy) and for serious development of intercity passenger rail
nationwide.

Twelve senators (plus Sen. Lautenberg) were at the news conference. The
three newest co-sponsors of the bill were on our January 26 hotline
sponsor wishlist--thank you for your work! They were Senators Lott and
Cochran (both R-MS) and Dorgan (D-ND).

--Ross Capon
</XMP>

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