Understanding Government

California’s latest whipping boy, the state’s proposed High Speed Rail project, receives another lashing today from The Sacramento Bee’s Dan Walter, who’s aghast at what he sees as blatant political patronage behind the award of another major federal grant just before this month’s election.

Walter connects the dots between US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s announcement that about a quarter of the funding for 56 high speed rail projects around the nation will go to California’s initiative and that the very first segment will be constructed in a swing district represented by Democrat Jim Costa, which until the dust cleared was thought to be a pick-up for Republicans. (more…)

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has called for a federal investigation of air pollution from Chicago area Metra trains and other pollution sources, following a Chicago Tribune investigation. WLS radio reports that Durbin wrote letters to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Federal Railroad Administration with the request that they review particulate matter in the atmosphere around Metra trains and train stations. (more…)

Here is an election-related catch by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Larry Sandler: Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle completed an agreement over the weekend that commits $810 million in federal stimulus cash toward a high-speed rail link between Milwaukee and Madison. The agreement comes as Doyle leaves office due to term limits and will likely be replaced by Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker. Walker wants the high-speed rail project killed and accused Doyle of “raw political power” when he got wind of the unannounced agreement between Wisconsin, the Federal Railroad Administration, and rail companies. (more…)

The Federal Railroad Administration, part of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, will provide Amtrak $230 million to build a high-speed rail corridor between Chicago and Iowa City. The Chicago Tribune’s Jon Hilkevitch reports that the project is expected to cost $310 million, meaning Illinois and Iowa have to foot $80 million combined, and that it should be completed by 2015. Illinois also received money to run faster trains from Chicago to other Midwest corridors, as part of $2.5 billion in federal grant money handed out by the Obama administration.

It’s nice that there will be a high-speed train from Chicago to Iowa City, but it’s even better that just any train is going to Iowa City. (more…)

Here is an underexposed public safety issue: railroad-crossing fatalities.

Jon Hilkevitch of the Chicago Tribune reports that in the past four years Illinois has had 98 deaths and 588 accidents at railroad-crossings. Now the Federal Railroad Administration – part of the Dept. of Transportation – has intervened, forcing Illinois and nine other states with high fatality rates to devise plans to reduce accidents. The ten states each have an entire year to come up with a safety plan and then five years for implementation. (more…)