Congressman Welch has signed on to the below letter. He continues to fight for HSIPR and the Western Corridor.
Support Funding for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program
Dear Chairmen Murray and Latham and Ranking Members Bond and Olver:
We respectfully request $2.5 billion for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program in the Fiscal Year 2012 Transportation and Housing & Urban Development appropriations bill. High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) is important to our country’s economic prosperity, transportation system and national security.
Infrastructure spending creates more jobs than other types of spending – each $1 billion of HSIPR construction funding supports 24,000 jobs. It also creates short-term jobs in construction, long-term jobs in ongoing maintenance and operation, and indirect jobs by providing access to a larger labor pool and driving economic development. For instance, 600,000 full time construction jobs will be created over the course of building the California High-Speed Rail line and 450,000 permanent new jobs will result from high-speed rail related economic growth over the next 25 years.
HSIPR can reduce congestion on the nation’s highways and in our skies by reducing intercity and regional traffic. Our already congested highways and airways will not be able to meet the projected population in our economic centers, which is expected to double by 2050. Currently, the Northeast Corridor passenger rail line accounts for 65 percent of the air/rail market between New York City and Washington, D.C. and 52 percent of trips between New York City and Boston. Nationwide, passenger rail takes 50,000 planes out of the air and 8 million cars off the highways each year, which results in less frequent and less extreme delays on our highways and in our skies.
Furthermore, the recent political instability in the Middle East have again reminded us of how closely tied we are to the oil-rich region to meet our energy needs. This dependency on foreign oil places our national security interests at risk, and our dependency may only get worse as the world’s oil supply reaches its peak and begins to decline. A national high speed rail system will reduce our dependency on oil while also reducing the amount of pollutants contaminating the air we breathe.
We acknowledge that this year’s budget decisions are difficult, but we urge you to support $2.5 billion for the high-speed intercity passenger rail program, which will create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and be an integral part of a safe and reliable 21st century transportation system.
Sincerely,
