Virginia will take the first formal step tomorrow in seeking more than $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money to develop high-speed rail corridors.
Tomorrow is the deadline for a pre-application by the state for a share of the $8 billion available for high-speed rail development under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, adopted by Congress in February at President Barack Obama's urging.
"Anything that's not in the pre-application will not get funded, so it's a huge deadline," said Daniel L. Plaugher, executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail in a breakfast presentation today to the Greater Richmond Chamber at Willow Oaks Country Club.
Virginia's proposed $1.51 billion plan includes $491 million improvements in a six-mile stretch around Richmond's Acca rail yard and a 13-mile link between the yard and Main Street Station in the city's downtown. The improvements are necessary to remove bottlenecks that limit rail service to the renovated station
Other parts of the proposal include:
- $185 million to add a third rail track between Richmond and Fredericksburg;
- $152 million to improve conventional rail service between Main Street Station and Petersburg; and
- $195 million to upgrade the rail corridor between Richmond and Washington, D.C., to allow high-speed trains that could cut the trip to 90 minutes on a reliable basis.
The state will submit the final proposal for developing the rail corridors on Oct. 2, and the federal government is expected to award money to the winners on Nov. 16.
Kim Scheeler, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Richmond Chamber, said his organization is working to build support for the state's proposal.
""It really is the kind of thing that can be transformational for this community," Scheeler said.
-- Michael Martz
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