By Ron Thaniel
March 28, 2011

The United States Conference of Mayors Trustee, Vice Chair for Rail Policy for the Transportation and Communications Committee, and Co-Chair of the high-speed Intercity Rail Task Force North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays joined with the founding members of the Congressional Bi-Cameral high-speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Caucus on March 15 at Union Station in Washington (DC) to announce the formation of a coalition that will serve as the leading advocates to advance high-speed and intercity rail programs across the country.

Hays, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ), Representatives Louise Slaughter (NY), Corrine Brown (FL), Zoe Lofgren (CA), David Price (NC), Tim Walz (MN) and John Olver (MA) called for federal legislative and funding policies to ensure the long-term viability of the high-speed intercity passenger rail program. Senator Dick Durbin (IL) is also joining the caucus.

Each founding co-chair represents a region containing a major high-speed intercity passenger rail corridor that, when completed, will make up a national high-speed rail network.

President Obama has set the goal to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years. The members of the caucus argued that funding for high-speed intercity rail programs are exactly the type of bold investment necessary to increase America’s competitiveness.

“With the leadership of President Obama and this caucus, it is the hope of mayors, that America is about to take its most significant step toward transforming the nation’s transportation network since the Interstate Highway System began more than a half a century ago,” said Hays. “Through the Conference of Mayors report, ‘The Economic Impacts on high-speed Rail on Cities and their Metropolitan Areas,’ mayors know that high-speed and intercity passenger rail will improve America’s transportation infrastructure while laying the groundwork for a brighter economic and sustainable future for cities and our metropolitan areas.”

Hays continued, “Our report projects that high-speed and intercity passenger rail will provide billions of dollars of new business and create tens of thousands of jobs in cities along high-speed and intercity passenger rail corridors across the United States.”

Hays spoke on the Conference of Mayors groundbreaking study on the positive economic impacts of high-speed rail on cities and their metropolitan areas, which was sponsored by Siemens and prepared by the Economic Development Research Group. The report and video is at http://usmayors.org/highspeedrail.

“Like President Obama, we share the goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high speed rail within 25 years,” said Slaughter. Lautenberg added, “This caucus will help further develop the Northeast Corridor and lead a high-speed rail revolution in America that will create jobs and boost the economy.”

“The creation of this caucus demonstrates our commitment to making high speed rail a reality across our nation,” said Olver. “Indisputably, the creation and maintenance of a high-speed rail system in the United States would serve as a tremendous boost for our nation’s infrastructure, our economy, and for job creation,” Brown told the press and transportation stakeholders gathered for the event on an Amtrak platform adjacent to an Acela Express train at Union Station. “high-speed rail needs to play a bigger role in our nation’s overall transportation system so we can move people and goods from one place to another faster and more efficiently,” said Price. “As the demands on our nation’s transportation infrastructure continue to grow, we must ensure that the investments we make today carry us well into the future,” said Lofgren. Walz added, “Our ability to move our products to market quickly and cheaply is a major factor in our global economic competitiveness.”

“We have an historic opportunity to modernize America’s transportation network, put people back to work, spur economic development, and reduce our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels through an investment in high-speed and intercity rail equal to the investment made a half-century ago building the Interstate Highway System,” said Hays.

In addition to representing the Conference of Mayors, Hays spoke on behalf of the National League of Cities. Contact Conference of Mayors Assistant Executive Director Ron Thaniel at rthaniel@usmayors.org for information on the Conference of Mayors high-speed intercity rail policy.