I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4838 

To make the Northeast Corridor eligible for high-speed rail corridor 

development grants under section 26106 of title 49, United States Code. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2010 

Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. 

KING of New York, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. HOLT, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, 

Mr. COURTNEY, Mrs. LOWEY, and Mr. PASCRELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To make the Northeast Corridor eligible for high-speed rail 

corridor development grants under section 26106 of title 

49, United States Code. 

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 ‘‘Northeast Corridor 

5 High-Speed Rail Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Northeast ‘‘mega-region’’ between Bos2 ton and Washington, DC, is the most densely popu3 lated area of the United States, and has consistently 

4 suffered from airport delays, traffic jams, and rail5 way congestion. 

6 (2) In fiscal year 2009 Amtrak’s Acela Express 

7 and Northeast Regional services carried nearly 10 

8 million passengers on the Northeast Corridor rail 

9 line. 

10 (3) The Northeast Corridor rail line connects 

11 the five most populated cities on the east coast, 

12 stretching from Boston, MA, to Washington, DC, via 

13 Providence, RI, and is a critical link in President 

14 Obama’s vision for a national high-speed rail net15 work. 

16 (4) In 1991 Congress authorized eleven high17 speed rail corridors. Of the eleven, three were des18 ignated by Congress and seven were designated by 

19 the Secretary of Transportation, while there remains 

20 one undesignated corridor. 

21 (5) The Passenger Rail Investment and Im22 provement Act of 2008 establishes a high-speed rail 

23 corridor development grant program and restricts 

24 eligibility for this program to projects located on a 

25 federally designated high-speed rail corridor. 


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1 (6) The Northeast Corridor has not been des2 ignated as a high-speed rail corridor. 

3 (7) Despite the lack of Federal designation, 

4 Amtrak’s Acela line, which runs along the Northeast 

5 Corridor, is our country’s current ‘‘high-speed’’ rail 

6 line, with top operating speeds of 150 miles per 

7 hour. While this top speed begins to approach the 

8 international standard for high-speed trains, Am9 trak’s high-speed service on the Northeast Corridor 

10 averages only 82 mph between Washington, DC, and 

11 New York, and only 66 mph between New York and 

12 Boston due to infrastructure and equipment con13 straints. Considerable investments are needed to 

14 overcome these constraints. 

15 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS. 

16 Section 26106 of title 49, United States Code, is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (b)(2), by inserting ‘‘and the 

19 Northeast Corridor’’ after ‘‘of title 23’’; and 

20 (2) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘capital 

21 projects in high-speed rail corridors’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘high-speed rail capital projects in corridors’’. 

Æ 


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