Union Calendar No. 378

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4867

[Report No. 103–692]

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for high-speed rail

transportation, and for other purposes.

AUGUST 10, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 378

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4867

[Report No. 103–692]

To authorize appropriations for high-speed rail transportation, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 1, 1994

Ms. SCHENK (for herself, Mr. SWIFT, and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

AUGUST 10, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on August 1, 1994]

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for high-speed rail

transportation, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘High-Speed Rail Devel5 opment Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds that—

3 (1) high-speed rail offers safe and efficient trans4 portation in certain densely traveled corridors linking

5 major metropolitan areas in the United States;

6 (2) high-speed rail may have environmental ad7 vantages over certain other forms of intercity trans8 portation;

9 (3) Amtrak’s Metroliner service between Wash10 ington, District of Columbia, and New York, New

11 York, the United States premiere high-speed rail serv12 ice, has shown that Americans will use high-speed

13 rail when that transportation option is available;

14 (4) new high-speed rail service should not receive

15 Federal subsidies for operating and maintenance ex16 penses;

17 (5) State and local governments should take the

18 prime responsibility for the development and imple19 mentation of high-speed rail service;

20 (6) the private sector should participate in fund21 ing the development of high-speed rail systems;

22 (7) in some intercity corridors, Federal planning

23 assistance may be required to supplement the funding

24 commitments of State and local governments and the

25 private sector to ensure the adequate planning, in-
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1 cluding reasonable estimates of the costs and benefits,

2 of high-speed rail systems;

3 (8) improvement of existing technologies can fa4 cilitate the development of high-speed rail systems in

5 the United States; and

6 (9) Federal assistance is required for the im7 provement, adoption, and integration of developed

8 technologies for commercial application in high-speed

9 rail service in the United States.

10 SEC. 3. NATIONAL HIGH-SPEED RAIL ASSISTANCE PRO11 GRAM.

12 (a) AMENDMENTS.—(1) Part D of subtitle V of title

13 49, United States Code, is redesignated as part E, chapter

14 261 of such title is redesignated as chapter 281, and sections

15 26101 and 26102 of such title are redesignated as sections

16 28101 and 28102.

17 (2) Subtitle V of title 49, United States Code, is

18 amended by inserting after part C the following new part:

19 ‘‘PART D—HIGH-SPEED RAIL

20 ‘‘CHAPTER 261—HIGH-SPEED RAIL

21 ASSISTANCE

‘‘Sec.

‘‘26101. Corridor planning.

‘‘26102. High-speed rail technology improvements.

‘‘26103. Safety regulations.

‘‘26104. Authorization of appropriations.

‘‘26105. Definitions.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 26101. CORRIDOR PLANNING.

2 ‘‘(a) CORRIDOR PLANNING ASSISTANCE.—(1) The Sec3 retary may provide under this section financial assistance

4 to a public agency or group of public agencies for corridor

5 planning for up to 50 percent of the publicly funded costs

6 associated with eligible activities.

7 ‘‘(2) No less than 20 percent of the publicly funded

8 costs associated with eligible activities shall come from

9 State and local sources, not including funds from any Fed10 eral program.

11 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—(1) A corridor planning

12 activity is eligible for financial assistance under subsection

13 (a) if the Secretary determines it to be necessary to establish

14 appropriate engineering, operational, financial, environ15 mental, or socioeconomic projections preliminary to imple16 mentation of specific high-speed rail improvements. Eligible

17 corridor planning activities include—

18 ‘‘(A) environmental assessments;

19 ‘‘(B) feasibility studies emphasizing commercial

20 technology improvements or applications;

21 ‘‘(C) economic analyses, including ridership, rev22 enue, and operating expense forecasting;

23 ‘‘(D) assessing the impact on rail employment of

24 developing high-speed rail corridors;

25 ‘‘(E) assessing community economic impacts;
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1 ‘‘(F) coordination with State and metropolitan

2 area transportation planning and corridor planning

3 with other States;

4 ‘‘(G) operational planning;

5 ‘‘(H) route selection analyses and purchase of

6 rights-of-way for proposed high-speed rail service;

7 ‘‘(I) preliminary engineering and design;

8 ‘‘(J) identification of specific improvements to a

9 corridor, including electrification, line straightening

10 and other right-of-way improvements, bridge rehabili11 tation and replacement, use of advanced locomotives

12 and rolling stock, ticketing, coordination with other

13 modes of transportation, parking and other means of

14 passenger access, track, signal, station, and other cap15 ital work, and use of intermodal terminals;

16 ‘‘(K) preparation of financing plans and

17 prospectuses; and

18 ‘‘(L) creation of public/private partnerships.

19 ‘‘(2) No financial assistance shall be provided under

20 this section for corridor planning with respect to the main

21 line of the Northeast Corridor, between Washington, District

22 of Columbia, and Boston, Massachusetts.

23 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING FINANCIAL ASSIST24 ANCE.—Selection by the Secretary of recipients of financial
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1 assistance under this section shall be based on such criteria

2 as the Secretary considers appropriate, including—

3 ‘‘(1) the relationship of the corridor to the Sec4 retary’s national high-speed ground transportation

5 policy;

6 ‘‘(2) the extent to which the proposed planning

7 focuses on systems which will achieve sustained speeds

8 of 125 mph or greater;

9 ‘‘(3) the integration of the corridor into metro10 politan area and statewide transportation planning;

11 ‘‘(4) the potential interconnection of the corridor

12 with other parts of the Nation’s transportation sys13 tem, including the interconnection with other coun14 tries;

15 ‘‘(5) the anticipated effect of the high-speed rail

16 service on the congestion of other modes of transpor17 tation;

18 ‘‘(6) whether the work to be funded will aid the

19 efforts of State and local governments to comply with

20 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.);

21 ‘‘(7) the past and proposed financial commit22 ments and other support of State and local govern23 ments and the private sector to the proposed high24 speed rail program, including the acquisition of roll25 ing stock;
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1 ‘‘(8) the estimated level of ridership;

2 ‘‘(9) the estimated capital cost of corridor im3 provements, including the cost of closing, improving,

4 or separating highway-rail grade crossings;

5 ‘‘(10) rail transportation employment impacts;

6 ‘‘(11) community economic impacts;

7 ‘‘(12) the extent to which the projected revenues

8 of the high-speed rail service, along with any finan9 cial commitments of State or local governments and

10 the private sector, are expected to cover capital costs

11 and operating and maintenance expenses;

12 ‘‘(13) whether a specific route has been selected,

13 specific improvements identified, and capacity studies

14 completed; and

15 ‘‘(14) whether the corridor has been designated

16 as a high-speed rail corridor by the Secretary.

17 ‘‘SEC. 26102. HIGH-SPEED RAIL TECHNOLOGY IMPROVE18 MENTS.

19 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may undertake ac20 tivities for the improvement, adaptation, and integration

21 of developed technologies for commercial application in

22 high-speed rail service in the United States.

23 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—In carrying out activi24 ties authorized by subsection (a), the Secretary may provide

25 financial assistance to any United States private business,
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1 educational institution located in the United States, State

2 or local government or public authority, or agency of the

3 Federal Government.

4 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—In

5 carrying out activities authorized by subsection (a), the Sec6 retary shall consult with such other governmental agencies

7 as may be necessary concerning the availability of appro8 priate technologies for commercial application in high9 speed rail service in the United States.

10 ‘‘SEC. 26103. SAFETY REGULATIONS.

11 ‘‘The Secretary shall promulgate such safety regula12 tions as may be necessary for high-speed rail.

13 ‘‘SEC. 26104. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

14 ‘‘(a) FISCAL YEAR 1995.—There are authorized to be

15 appropriated to the Secretary $29,000,000 for fiscal year

16 1995, for carrying out sections 26101 and 26102.

17 ‘‘(b) FISCAL YEAR 1996.—(1) There are authorized to

18 be appropriated to the Secretary $40,000,000 for fiscal year

19 1996, for carrying out section 26101.

20 ‘‘(2) There are authorized to be appropriated to the

21 Secretary $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1996, for carrying out

22 section 26102.

23 ‘‘(c) FISCAL YEAR 1997.—(1) There are authorized to

24 be appropriated to the Secretary $45,000,000 for fiscal year

25 1997, for carrying out section 26101.
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1 ‘‘(2) There are authorized to be appropriated to the

2 Secretary $40,000,000 for fiscal year 1997, for carrying out

3 section 26102.

4 ‘‘(d) FUNDS TO REMAIN AVAILABLE.—Funds made

5 available under this section shall remain available until ex6 pended.

7 ‘‘SEC. 26105. DEFINITIONS.

8 ‘‘For purposes of this chapter—

9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘financial assistance’ includes

10 grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements;

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘high-speed rail’ has the meaning

12 given such term under section 511(n) of the Railroad

13 Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976;

14 ‘‘(3) the term ‘publicly funded costs’ means the

15 costs funded after April 29, 1993, by Federal, State,

16 and local governments;

17 ‘‘(4) the term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of

18 Transportation;

19 ‘‘(5) the term ‘State’ means any of the several

20 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the

21 Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Guam,

22 American Samoa, and any other territory or posses23 sion of the United States; and

24 ‘‘(6) the term ‘United States private business’

25 means a business entity organized under the laws of
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1 the United States, or of a State, and conducting sub2 stantial business operations in the United States.’’.

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) The table of

4 chapters of subtitle V of title 49, United States Code, is

5 amended by striking the items relating to part D and in6 serting in lieu thereof the following:

‘‘PART D—HIGH-SPEED RAIL

‘‘261. HIGH-SPEED RAIL ASSISTANCE ................................................. 26101

‘‘PART E—MISCELLANEOUS

‘‘281. LAW ENFORCEMENT ........................................................................ 28101’’.

7 (2) The table of sections of chapter 281 of title 49,

8 United States Code, as such chapter is redesignated by sub9 section (a)(1) of this section, is amended—

10 (A) by striking ‘‘26101’’ and inserting in lieu

11 thereof ‘‘28101’’; and

12 (B) by striking ‘‘26102’’ and inserting in lieu

13 thereof ‘‘28102’’.