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DoT designates Northeast as a 'rail corridor'
By Keith Laing - 03/15/11 02:26 PM ET

Reversing an earlier decision, the Department of Transportation this week
designated the Northeast as a federal rail corridor.

The decision means the Northeast will be able to compete for $2.4 billion in
high-speed rail funds that were rejected by Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick
Scott. Lawmakers from the region had pressed the administration for the
decision.

“Given the Northeast Corridor's strong track record with high-speed rail and
the region's high gross domestic product, improvements to the Corridor's
rail service would be a smart investment of Florida's rejected high-speed
rail funds,” senators from New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut wrote this
week in a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

“We believe that Secretary LaHood's recent decisions are a positive step
that will encourage further higher speed rail development along the
Northeast Corridor,” they continued. “We will continue to work with the
administration to ensure that the Corridor receives its fair share of the
available high-speed rail funds.”

The letter was signed by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Tom Carper
(D-Del.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Chris
Coons (D-Del.).

The decision also means the Northeast will be officially designated as one
of the corridors in President Obama’s proposed national network of railways.
The department initially had said the Northeast did not need the designation
because it had already developed railways.

Applications for the $2.4 billion in rail money Florida rejected are being
accepted until Apr. 4.

The Northeast joins 10 other areas of the country in competing for the
money, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Gulf Coast, New
England and the Chicago hub.

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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