recently enacted PRIIA. DOT said it is also working to comply with statutory requirements to issue interim guidance in June 2009, describing grant terms, conditions, and procedures. DOT told us that in order to provide information to the public and potential grantees as expeditiously as possible, it has posted a set of questions and answers relating to ARRA on its Web site. These questions and answers provide potential program applicants with some preliminary but specific information on what to expect in terms of coverage, limitations, and potential selection criteria.
Finally, DOT noted that the draft report does not include information relating to the administration’s new federal commitment to high speed rail.
Specifically, as described in the President’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, the administration has proposed a 5-year $5 billion high speed rail state grant program. DOT indicated that this program is intended to build on the $8 billion included in ARRA for high speed rail. The Department said the President’s proposal marks a new federal commitment to practical and environmentally sustainable transportation. DOT did not take a
position on our recommendations.
We agree that the recently enacted ARRA will likely accelerate activity related to the consideration and development of high speed rail in the United States and will place a new emphasis on the federal role in such development. We also agree that the President’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, if enacted, could further increase the emphasis on high speed rail and its potential development. As discussed in the report, high speed rail systems can offer a number of benefits. However, these systems are very expensive, can take a long time to develop, and face numerous financial and other challenges to bring to fruition. Given the renewed interest in high speed intercity passenger rail and its development and the substantial resources that might be made available, it is even more important that potential challenges are addressed and a clear federal role be established.
This includes developing a strategic vision for high speed rail that includes consideration of how high speed rail fits into the nation’s transportation system; that the review and evaluation of grant applications under PRIIA, ARRA and other programs clearly identify outcomes to be achieved and incorporate into grant documents appropriate performance and
accountability measures to ensure these outcomes are achieved; and that guidance and methods be developed that increase the reliability of ridership and other forecasts used to determine the economic viability of high speed rail projects. Each of these actions is essential for ensuring that federal expenditures on high speed rail are efficient, effective, and focused on maximizing the return on the investment.
We also received comments from Amtrak in an e-mail message dated March 3, 2009. Amtrak said it generally agreed with our conclusions.
Amtrak did not take a position on our recommendations. Amtrak also provided technical corrections and comments, which we incorporated where appropriate.
We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional committees; the Secretary of Transportation; the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration; and the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget. The report will also be available at no charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-2834 or flemings@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are
Susan A. Fleming listed in appendix VIII.
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues
List of Requesters
The Honorable Harry Reid Majority Leader
United States Senate
The Honorable John L. Mica Ranking Member
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure House of Representatives
The Honorable John W. Olver Chairman
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives The Honorable Bill Shuster Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure House of Representatives
To better understand the potential viability of high speed rail service in the United States, we reviewed (1) the factors affecting the economic viability of high speed rail projects—that is, whether a project’s total social benefits offset or justify the total social costs—and difficulties in determining the economic viability of proposed projects; (2) the challenges that U.S.
project sponsors experience in developing and financing high speed rail projects; and (3) the federal role in the potential development of high speed rail systems.
For the purposes of this report, we used the Federal Railroad
Administration’s (FRA) definition of high speed ground transportation, which is “service that is time-competitive with air and/or automobile for trips in corridors of roughly 100 and 500 miles in length,”1 as opposed to a specific top speed threshold. As a result, we included in our review a wide range of projects, including “incremental” projects that are designed to increase the speed (generally above 79 miles per hour up to 150 miles per hour) or reliability of existing rail service on existing track usually shared with freight or other passenger trains; and “new” high speed rail projects (above 150 miles per hour and, in some cases, above 200 miles per hour) designed to operate on new tracks or guideway on dedicated right-of-way not shared with other rail services. Our review was technology neutral, meaning that we did not analyze or consider the technical feasibility of diesel, electrified, or magnetic levitation trains, but only considered the service and performance aspects of the different technologies in the project proposals we reviewed. The scope of our work did not include an assessment of commuter rail or transit service where the primary purpose is to travel between a suburb and a city center or within a metropolitan area. However, the presence of these transportation modes as intermodal connections to high speed rail service was considered in identifying characteristics significant to how proposed high speed rail service is analyzed and evaluated. Furthermore, it was not the intent of this study to identify specific routes or corridors that are viable. Rather, this study identifies characteristics of corridors and service and other factors that contribute to a proposed project’s benefits and costs and the challenges in developing and financing such projects.
1DOT/FRA, High Speed Ground Transportation for America (Washington, D.C.:
September 1997), 2-1.
To address our objectives, we conducted structured interviews with officials for 5 projects that currently exceed Amtrak’s predominant top speed of 79 miles per hour, and project sponsors for 11 different high speed rail proposals in the United States. The criteria used to select which existing or proposed domestic projects to review were twofold, as follows: