II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2961 

To establish the Office of Planning for Future Intercity Transportation within 

the Office of the Secretary of Transportation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2014 

Mr. BEGICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To establish the Office of Planning for Future Intercity 

Transportation within the Office of the Secretary of 

Transportation. 

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 ‘‘Office of Planning for 

5 Future Intercity Transportation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) High-speed passenger rail technology, while 

9 not new in Europe and Asia, is a new transportation 

10 technology in the United States. Its design, developmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ment, construction, financing, funding, and oper2 ation require specific skills and expertise that are 

3 not abundant in the United States, and will require 

4 years to develop. 

5 (2) Unlike highways, mass transit, and aviation, 

6 high-speed rail requires unique and separated rights 

7 of way to operate and must be fully integrated with 

8 other passenger transportation system elements to 

9 be successful. 

10 (3) In order to ensure the proper development 

11 of high-speed intercity passenger rail service in the 

12 United States, it is critical that a dedicated office be 

13 established at the highest levels of the Federal Gov14 ernment to coordinate and facilitate the intricate re15 lationships between— 

16 (A) various levels of government; and 

17 (B) the wide range of industrial interests 

18 that will be required to work together to make 

19 high-speed rail successful. 

20 (4) Resources for transportation infrastructure 

21 are in high demand. Many people contend that there 

22 are not enough resources to maintain the transpor23 tation system the Nation has built, let alone to build 

24 new modes of transportation such as high-speed 

25 intercity passenger rail. 

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1 (5) The capacity of the current transportation 

2 system threatens the present and future competitive3 ness of the United States. Unless investments are 

4 made in new, faster, and more efficient transpor5 tation capacity, such as intercity high-speed pas6 senger rail, it will be very difficult for the United 

7 States— 

8 (A) to rise out of its current economic con9 dition; or 

10 (B) to regain its leadership role domesti11 cally and internationally. 

12 (6) Placing the development of a national sys13 tem of intercity high-speed rail corridors that are 

14 highly integrated with other modes of transportation 

15 under the direct supervision of the Secretary of 

16 Transportation and delegating the day-to-day ad17 ministration of such system to an Assistant Sec18 retary will ensure an effective launch and the effi19 cient operation of a new national transportation mo20 dality. 

21 (7) It is in the interest of the United States to 

22 expeditiously develop and deploy intercity high-speed 

23 passenger rail under the singularly focused direction 

24 of the Secretary of Transportation. 

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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist4 ant Secretary’’ means the head of the Office of 

5 Planning for Future Intercity Transportation. 

6 (2) ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘‘eligi7 ble participant’’ means— 

8 (A) a State that has participated in the 

9 process to develop and implement a cost alloca10 tion methodology under section 209(a) of the 

11 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement 

12 Act of 2008 (49 U.S.C. 24101 note); 

13 (B) a group consisting solely of States de14 scribed in subparagraph (A); 

15 (C) an Interstate Compact consisting solely 

16 of States described in subparagraph (A); 

17 (D) a public agency established by 1 or 

18 more of the States described in subparagraph 

19 (A) that is responsible for providing intercity 

20 passenger rail service; or 

21 (E) any entity that seeks to perform serv22 ices under a contract awarded pursuant to this 

23 Act by providing— 

24 (i) a description of how the entity in25 tends to perform the covered services; and 

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1 (ii) materials demonstrating the enti2 ty’s capability to perform the proposed 

3 services in accordance with the require4 ments under this Act. 

5 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of6 fice of Planning for Future Intercity Transportation 

7 established within the Office of the Secretary of 

8 Transportation pursuant to section 4. 

9 (4) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘‘pro10 gram participant’’ means an eligible participant that 

11 has entered into an authorized procurement process 

12 under this Act. 

13 (5) RAIL CARRIER.—The term ‘‘rail carrier’’ 

14 has the meaning given such term in section 

15 10102(5) of title 49, United States Code. 

16 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Transportation. 

18 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

19 the several States and the District of Columbia. 

20 SEC. 4. OFFICE OF PLANNING FOR FUTURE INTERCITY 

21 TRANSPORTATION. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6 months after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

24 establish the Office of Planning for Future Intercity 

25 Transportation within the Office of the Secretary of 

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1 Transportation. The Office shall be composed of the Office 

2 of High-Speed Rail Policy, the Office of High-Speed Plan3 ning, and the Office of High-Speed Rail Operations and 

4 Safety. 

5 (b) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.— 

6 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The head of the Office 

7 shall be the Assistant Secretary for Intercity Trans8 portation Planning, who shall be appointed by the 

9 President, by and with the advice and consent of the 

10 Senate. 

11 (2) DUTIES.—The Assistant Secretary shall— 

12 (A) serve as the principal policy advisor to 

13 the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary on 

14 High-Speed Rail; and 

15 (B) assume responsibility for all activities 

16 of the Federal Government associated with 

17 high-speed rail that were previously delegated 

18 to the Administrator of the Federal Railroad 

19 Administration or otherwise authorized by Con20 gress. 

21 (c) FUNCTIONS.—Under the direction of the Assist22 ant Secretary, the Office shall oversee the planning, devel23 opment, construction, financing, funding, and operation of 

24 high-speed rail in selected corridors throughout the United 

25 States. 

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1 (d) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—Not later than 2 years 

2 after the date on which the Office is established under this 

3 section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress the results 

4 of a feasibility study that identifies and prioritizes cor5 ridors that offer the best opportunity to provide point-to6 point transportation service based on— 

7 (1) travel demand; 

8 (2) the total cost of construction and operation; 

9 and 

10 (3) expected passenger and other business rev11 enue generated from the operation of transportation 

12 service. 

13 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro15 priated out of the Highway Trust Fund, for each of the 

16 fiscal years 2015, 2016, and 2017— 

17 (1) $20,000,000 to carry out the feasibility 

18 study required under section 4(d); and 

19 (2) $5,000,000 for administrative expenses in20 curred by the Office. 

21 (b) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.— 

22 (1) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—Amounts appro23 priated pursuant to subsection (a)(1) shall be avail24 able for the procurement of contract services to 

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1 carry out such studies as the Secretary determines 

2 necessary to carry out section 4(d). 

3 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—Amounts appro4 priated pursuant to subsection (a)(2) shall be avail5 able for the procurement of contract services to 

6 carry out any other requirement under this Act. 

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