High-Speed Rail Funding Announcements Tomorrow

Exactly how that $8 billion pie of high-speed railing funds will be disbursed shall be revealed tomorrow by Obama.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to announce grants for 13 major corridors during a town hall meeting in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, the president's first public appearance following his speech to the nation. It's an attempt by the White House to show that getting Americans back to work is the president's top priority and that he has a plan for how to do it.

The president's visit to the region means Florida's proposal for a high-speed line connecting Orlando and Tampa is likely to receive funding. California's proposal for an 800-mile-long rail line from Sacramento to San Diego and a nine-state proposal in the Midwest are also considered strong contenders.

We Midwesterners shouldn't despair that Florida is getting cash, however. Obama's "railroad czar" Joseph Szabo recently praised our region's HSR plans.

I'm not sure if these funds must be spent directly on HSR or not. If not, my guess is that any money coming to the Midwest will likely go to relieving bottlenecks and updating infrastructure in the Chicago area to accommodate passenger rail and facilitate the passage of freight trains through Chicagoland which would certainly benefit Amtrak routes.

Regardless, I doubt that Madison will be getting a train stop out of these funds as it seems like speeding up the Chicago--St. Louis route is getting a lot of attention. If Madison is unaffected by this round of funding, proponents of Yahara Station should step up their campaign as there will be no more excuses about keeping the stop at the airport because of a desire to not change plans at the last minute.

Remember, when it comes to high-speed rail, people want convenience.