(The following appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on May 9, 2011.)
PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak was awarded $450 million on Monday for major improvements that will make Philadelphia-to-New-York trains the fastest in the country.
The money was part of $2 billion for high-speed rail projects awarded Monday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, after the new governor of Florida rejected the money earlier this year. In addition to the Amtrak funding, $345 million was awarded to Northeastern states for projects designed to speed travel in the heavily traveled Boston-to-Washington corridor.
And Pennsylvania got $40 million to rebuild a rail intersection on the Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg Keystone Corridor, to reduce travel time and improve reliability there.
Full story: Philadelphia Inquirer