Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Rail

High-Speed Rail Looks Golden in a Good Night for Transit

By Ben Fried | Nov 5, 2008 | 2 Comments

A promo for California’s victorious Prop 1A touts the connection between high-speed rail and smart growth. Last night The Overhead Wire‘s Jeff Wood gave a heroic play-by-play of several transit ballot initiatives, live-blogging results into the wee hours. The big-ticket item — California’s bond issue for a high-speed rail line spanning most of the state […]

From Denver: Dems Discuss Funding Woes; Biden Says “Amtrak”

By Brad Aaron | Aug 28, 2008 | 7 Comments

Last night saw what might one day qualify as an historic moment in transportation circles, as vice presidential candidate Joe Biden used the "A"-word during his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. From a transcript of Biden’s address, via CNN: You know, John McCain is my friend. And I know you hear that […]

Obama Builds Rail Cred With Biden Pick

By Brad Aaron | Aug 26, 2008 | 10 Comments

Barack Obama’s standing as an advocate for investment in US commuter rail looks to have gotten a boost with his selection of Joe Biden as his running mate. Whereas John McCain is the Senate’s sworn enemy of Amtrak, his colleague from Delaware is known as a "Champion of the Rails." Notes Daily Kos diarist MissLaura […]

McCain Impressed by US Trains, So Long as They Don’t Stay in US

By Brad Aaron | Aug 13, 2008 | 14 Comments

Our friend Sean Roche sent us a link to this brain-bending video of John McCain stumping in Pennsylvania. Just before the 1:00 mark, after McCain gives an ambiguous plug for electric cars, he unloads this doozy: "I was with Governor [Tom] Ridge yesterday, and we visited a General Electric plant in Erie that makes — […]

Obama’s Energy Platform Has a (Small) Livable Cities Plank

By Ben Fried | Aug 7, 2008 | 10 Comments

When Barack Obama gave his big energy speech on Monday, his campaign released an eight-page fact sheet [PDF] to go with it. All the way at the end, at the very bottom of the last page — after the parts about plug-in electric vehicles, oil shale, and clean coal technology — there’s this paragraph: Build […]

Neal Peirce: Cities and Suburbs Must Collaborate to Expand Transit

By Ben Fried | Aug 5, 2008 | 3 Comments

As the push for emergency transit funding moves to the Senate, syndicated columnist Neal Peirce pulls back the lens and sees a bright outlook for local rail systems. The key, he says, is whether cities and their suburbs can set up new revenue streams together: Political reality says few if any state legislatures will enact […]

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