Arcuri hosts Florida Rep. Brown at Union Station to discuss high speed rail funding
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By ANDREW DONOVAN
Story Created:
Apr 17, 2010 at 4:43 PM EST
Story Updated:
Apr 17, 2010 at 6:06 PM EST
UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Congressman Michael Arcuri hosted Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown for a discussion at Union Station Saturday regarding high speed railroads running through the city. Brown plans to lobby to President Obama for even more funding.
Brown is the chairwoman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads. She is stopping in those parts of the country that have been awarded funding for high-speed and inter-city passenger rail to hear the concerns from people who live in each area.
Upstate New York is among those awarded Recovery Bill funding, and Brown along with Representative Arcuri led a panel discussion at the Blue Flag Room at Utica's Union Station.
Arcuri met Chairwoman Brown at the Capital District Transportation Authority Rensselaer Train Station outside of Albany, NY to board an Amtrak train bound for Union Station.
Brown says her ultimate goal is to get dedicated annual government funding for high speed rail. She said, "we want a dedicated source of revenue, because it's long term. It's not just what are we doing today, it's what are we going to be doing ten years from now and we need that investment in public and private partnership to move this country forward." Brown says after her listening tour is over, she will meet with President Obama and try to urge him to help get that much needed dedicated annual funding for high speed rail.
Congressman Arcuri says it's an honor to have his fellow member of Congress start her tour here. Arcuri said, "really, when you think about transportation, you think about Upstate New York. I mean the Erie Canal was started 20 miles from here in Rome and that was the focal point, that is what made America what America is, our infrastructure, transportation system. So to begin the tour here says a lot about what we are, but more importantly, what we can be as a result of improving rail."
Arcuri recently met with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to advocate for additional funding for high speed rail projects in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley as part of an act signed into law last December.
This would be in addition to the $1 million specifically designated for improvements at railroad crossings in Oneida County and $151 million dollars in Recovery Bill funding received for improvements to New York's Empire Corridor, which stretches from Niagara Falls to Albany.
Some preliminary work on sections of track between Albany and Utica for the eventual high speed rail system is expected to begin later this year.
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