President Barack Obama on Nov. 12, 2015 signed an Executive Order creating a second Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to help resolve an ongoing contract dispute between New Jersey Transit Rail (NJT) and some of its employees represented by labor unions.
President Obama on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, called for a four-year, $302 billion investment in U.S. infrastructure, primarily targeting repair and rehabilitation of existing assets.
Continuing to back up his political position established in his first term, President Obama Wednesday included considerable funding for rail and rail transit projects in his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget. Longer-term, the President also is advocating investment of $40 billion in passenger rail projects in the next five years. But the proposal, while a good placeholder and a rallying marker for pro-rail forces, is unlikely to survive intact.
North America’s marathon journey to renewing its passenger trains could gain a measure of inspiration this summer, when the world’s expertise in deploying and operating high speed rail will be concentrated on this continent for the first time in at least 75 years. For a week in July, the world’s best and brightest high speed train designers, developers, and operators will gather in Philadelphia for the 8th World Congress on High-Speed Rail. Branded as “Highspeed 2012,” this meeting of minds will be a co-production of the International Union of Railways (known by its French acronym, UIC), the industry association based in Paris, and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
A bipartisan group of 111 House members announced Tuesday it is urging President Obama to support a six-year transportation authorization. A letter to the President states that “short-term extensions fail to recognize that meaningful, large-scale transportation projects take years to plan, approve and implement.” States and contractors need a long-term bill in order to execute large projects and repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, the group says.
