U.S. Rep. Moulton proposes national high-speed rail network

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) this week rolled out a national plan that calls for spending $205 billion to build a national high-speed rail network.

Construction of a high-speed rail network would help get the economy back on track, create competition in transportation and give U.S. residents cleaner, faster and more reliable commutes, Moulton said in a press release.

The plan calls for building a national system by:

• investing $41 billion in high-speed and higher-speed rail through grants administered by the Federal Railroad Administration over five years, with incentives of $38 billion or more in nonfederal funding;
• expanding metrics used by states and cities for transportation planning to include wider economic benefits for more informed investments;
• creating funding flexibility and transit-oriented development incentives for nonfederal partners, including state and local transportation agencies and private partners; and
• developing performance-based safety regulations and standards for high-speed rail to reduce project costs and expedite development.

If passed by Congress, the plan would create more than 2.6 million direct jobs over five years and make high-speed rail a competitive option against road and air travel — two modes that Congress heavily subsidizes, he said.

Moulton, who briefly ran for president as a Democrat last year, announced his rail proposal — along with a 30-page white paper calling for modernizing U.S. transportation policy — in an interview with Wired magazine. 

Moulton previously worked for the private-sector effort underway in Texas to build a bullet train route between Dallas and Houston.