On Wednesday morning outside Union Station, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Seth Moulton led a coalition of labor and climate leaders in calling for increasing federal funding for high-speed rail in the upcoming infrastructure package. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan includes $124 billion more for cars than rail and transit combined - despite the fact that high-speed rail creates more jobs per billion dollars invested than highway and transit projects. Just $80 billion is included in the package for all rail investments. More information on the benefits of high speed rail is available here. Video of today’s event is available here.
“Rail is climate infrastructure,” said Representative Ocasio-Cortez. “For every buck that we're going to put into a car and a bridge, we want to put a buck into a rail. We want equity. That's what we're here to demand. And we need your help, so go to fundhighspeedrail.org and tell your Member or Senator to support high-speed rail.”
“With the American Jobs Plan we have a choice: fix the last generation’s potholes, or invest in the next generation’s future. Investing in high-speed rail gives Americans more options for how they travel and the freedom to go further, faster on a schedule that works for them. The rest of the world is racing to build high-speed rail, because they know it is a smart investment. Building it in America will open opportunities for the rising generation to work in cities where jobs are growing and still get back for dinner in places they can afford to buy homes, all across the country. We can do this for less than we’d spend on expanding 1950’s-era highways or building more airport gates,” Representative Seth Moulton said. “This isn’t radical, it is just a radical shift from the vast subsidies Congress provides planes—which fuel climate change and are constantly delayed by weather—and roads—which will only produce more traffic—to a truly free market for transportation. Americans will chose carbon-free, high-speed rail if we invest in it now.”
"I could not be prouder to fight for high-speed rail, for economic justice and environmental justice, and for creating jobs and ensuring clean air and clean water. We're the strongest, greatest economy in the world when it comes to entrepreneurialism and when it comes to innovation, and we should never be ceding that leadership anywhere in the world," said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. "High-speed rail will enable us to share the culture, the richness, and the opportunities from every corner of our state. I promise you, kids in The Bronx also deserve to go to camp in the Adirondacks, and kids in the Adirondacks also deserve to get big jobs in New York City. This is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to do the right thing, to make the right investments--not just for our children, but our children's children, and our children's grandchildren."
A high-speed rail network will create millions of good, green, union jobs, and decarbonize the transportation sector by shifting millions of trips into an electrically powered mode of transport while reducing demand for cars, trucks, and short-haul flights. It will also slash toxic air pollution in frontline communities, reduce the need for further highway expansions into those communities, create new affordable housing opportunities, and revitalize small towns and rural areas across the country that have been left behind. China’s high-speed rail system reduced regional disparities by an average of 25 percent. The Cascadia project in the Pacific Northwest (Portland-Seattle-Vancouver) is also projected to add $355 billion in regional economic growth, for a 10:1 return-on-investment.
“The Teamsters Rail Conference supports high speed rail implementation that provides the same or better levels of federal protections and benefits rail workers in passenger and freight rail service currently have. The federal protections covering safety, collective bargaining, sickness and health benefits and railroad retirement are critical to guaranteeing that high speed rail is not just a first rate way to travel, but also employs the world class, highly skilled and unionized workforce that make that possible. The Teamsters Rail Conference consisting of The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees have a long history of helping rail workers attain those federal safeguards and will continue to do so for high speed rail employees who operate trains and work on the the rails.These essential workers will be moving passengers on new cutting edge equipment traveling at high speeds,” said Vincent Verna, Vice President & National Legislative Representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
No comments:
Post a Comment