Reign of High-Speed Rail Mainly on the Wane

The reign of high-speed rail is mainly on the wane. At least, on one critical Washington priority list.

Ken Orski, HSR opponent and editor/publisher of Innovation NewsBriefs, claims the Democrat-controlled Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, usually "yes" men for the White House, has disallowed the whole of the administration's $4 billion FY 2013 request for high-speed rail.

Orski reports that of the total $1.75 billion federal rail budget, the Senate subcommittee has allocated $1.45 billion for Amtrak and $100 million for the High Performance Passenger Rail grant program to assistwith the improvement of existing intercity services and multi-state planning initiatives.

"The House appropriators, of course, have never intended to vote any money for HSR in FY 2013," he writes, "but the Senate action puts an end to any hopes that a House-Senate conference might provide even a token amount for high-speed rail in the FY 2013 federal budget."