WASHINGTON — Colorado has received $400,000 and Vermont $500,000 under the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program grant program funded from fiscal year 2009 appropriations.
Colorado will use its funds to develop a state rail plan, a prerequisite for receiving additional HSIPR intercity passenger rail funding. Vermont will conduct a study of a proposed rerouting of Amtrak’s Ethan Allen service between Rutland, VT, and Albany, N.Y., which would result in additional cities receiving rail service.
FRA has now released more than $183 million for the HSIPR program, the significant portion of which comes from the Obama Administration’s unprecedented $8 billion down payment for the creation of a national network of interconnected high-speed rail corridors in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
