The United States government announced the recipients of $8 billion in high speed rail stimulus funding today. Three projects will receive the lion’s share of money set aside in last year’s stimulus bill. The projects will be based in California, Illinois, and Florida. According to a press release from The White House, President Obama and Vice-President Biden stated that “the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is awarding $8 billion to states across the country to develop America’s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service.”

The following chart from the Christian Science Monitor via the Associated Press provides a breakdown of the projects receiving more than half a billion dollars:

As noted in NPR’s coverage, this decision is not without controversy. From the spreading of funds to several projects instead of focusing on one large scale rail network to demonstrate the viability of this transportation system to the claims of political bias in deciding which systems received funding several concerns have arisen.

While most of the projects will not achieve high speed rail status of over 110mph, the routes may still play a role in future of transportation. The White House press release claims that the “new high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and Orlando [will have] trains running up to 168 miles per hour, and in California, which is receiving up to $2.25 billion for its planned project to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and points in between with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.”

For a PDF containing a full list of the funds appropriated in this announcement, click here.

- Eric Wilson

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