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During a Jan. 29 address at the Second Annual Intercity High Speed Rail Corridor Summit, Gil Carmichael told a crowd of Georgia and Alabama transportation and transit industry officials that the Administration’s high-speed rail program is taking an “epic first step” toward building “Interstate 2.0” for future generations.

Held in Birmingham, Ala., the event brought together state transportation officials to discuss policies for the development of major high-speed rail corridors.

“With his recent announcements to fund an initial $8 billion for building 13 intercity, high-speed rail corridors, President Obama will become the Eisenhower of this century,” Carmichael told the group. “What the president envisions is a major public-works project that will connect all of our airports, center cities and ports.”

He also congratulated the Federal Railroad Administration initiating a “comprehensive” group of projects that can begin immediately.

“This can connect major cities across the country, solving our need for a new national transportation system while re-energizing our inner cities. If we fund it as we did the highways, with public/private partnerships working with the state departments of transportation, we can dramatically and safely increase transit speeds, add jobs and increase freight capacity,” said Carmichael, a founding chairman of the Board of Directors for the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver, a former Federal Railroad Administrator and former chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council.

In addition, Amtrak’s plan to replace its fleet will complement the high-speed program and jump-start passenger-train and locomotive manufacturing in the United States, Carmichael said.

“These new train sets can be up and running within 36 to 48 months, and provide safe and long overdue passenger trains capable of achieving speeds in excess of 110 miles per hour by 2030,” he said.