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- January 27, 2011, 2:44 PM ET

Bloomberg Joins Obama’s Push for High-Speed Rail
Getty Images New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, at Grand
Central Terminal for a congressional hearing Thursday about high-speed rail.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg strongly endorsed high-speed rail in the Northeast
corridor during a congressional hearing at Grand Central Terminal Thursday,
describing it as a boon for both the region and the nation.

As The Journal reported<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106452842890660.html?mod=WSJ_NY_LEFTForthStories>,
House lawmakers held the hearing on future of rail service two days after
President Barack Obama used his State of the Union
speech<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104134043682882.html>to
make the case for significantly
expanded high-speed
rail<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104730849139912.html>.
House Republicans have already signaled their intent to block such spending.

Florida Republican Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee leading Thursday’s hearing, has voiced doubts about
whether Amtrak capacity to build a true high-speed rail service — suggesting
that private companies might do better.

Bloomberg arrived late to the hearing because he first gave the public an
update on the city’s response to the snow storm. When he arrived, the mayor
recounted a 2007 visit to Shanghai, where he boarded a magnetic levitation
train that travels at 250 miles per hour.

“I had a full cup of coffee and I watched the coffee,” the mayor said. “It
didn’t vibrate once. It was really quite amazing. And other countries are
trying to do the same thing, create other modes of transportation that are
much more efficient, much more rapid and answer the needs in a global
world.”

In Asia and the Middle East, Bloomberg explained, bullet trains are being
built while American transportation infrastructure languishes. “And we are
sitting here!” he said. “What is America waiting for? I don’t want to spend
money we don’t have. I’m sympathetic to the cost of debt. I’m sympathetic to
encumbering our descendents with the cost of building things. But this is
not wasting money.”

The mayor complained that the current federal plan for high-speed rail
projects allots just over 1% to the Northeast. “That simply just doesn’t
make any sense,” he said. “What we need is a new approach to spending
transportation money — one that is not dictated by politics, but based on
economics.”

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Mike Muldoon
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
mmuldoon@rosemontseneca.co