T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Posts Tagged "amtrak"

Urge your representative to support public transit funding in next federal budget

After two straight years of the Trump administration pushing to eliminate all funding for building or improving public transportation systems, Congress is right now deciding how much funding to provide for transit in the FY19 budget. To make sure Congress knows they need to continue funding public transportation, T4America is circulating a sign-on letter for organizations and elected officials.

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FY18 Omnibus moves transit funding in the right direction

Upon the release of the FY18 omnibus appropriations bill by the House of Representatives, Transportation for America Director Kevin F. Thompson released the following statement:

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House & Senate reject president’s request to end all federally supported transit construction

Over the last week, House and Senate committees have both passed transportation budget bills for the upcoming year. For the most part they again rejected President Trump’s requests to eliminate the TIGER grant program, halt all new federally supported transit construction, and slash passenger rail service.

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[VIDEO] The future of federal passenger rail funding

After months of talk about investing in infrastructure, one of President Trump’s first acts on infrastructure was to propose eliminating funding for several crucial transportation programs, including long-distance passenger rail. We convened a small panel of experts to explain about the impacts on passenger rail and what interested advocates and local leaders need to know.

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After years of trying to slash funding, the House proposes solid funding for next round of TIGER grants

After several years of consistently trying to cut or outright eliminate the program’s funding entirely, House appropriators last week approved $450 million for competitive TIGER grants within the annual budget bill for all transportation and housing programs.

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Carrying the message of Gulf Coast support for passenger rail up to Capitol Hill

After last week’s inspiring rail trip along the Gulf Coast where we witnessed firsthand the massive support from citizens and local leaders alike for restoring passenger rail service along the coast, a member of the Southern Rail Commission testified before the Senate’s key rail committee earlier this week to deliver the same message Gulf Coast citizens so passionately presented at each stop last week.

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A look back at the overwhelming support for restoring Gulf Coast passenger rail [VIDEO]

The Gulf Coast inspection train toured a potential route and examined the CSX tracks last week from February 18-19th. It was the product of years of work by local residents and elected leaders at almost all levels to restore the passenger rail service wiped out by Katrina over ten years ago.

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Gulf Coast leaders intent on boosting their economic prospects with passenger rail

While the local residents who turned out along the Gulf Coast last week to support the return of passenger rail through their communities are perhaps most hopeful for a new way to get where they want to go, their leaders are focused intently on the significant economic development potential for their cities, region and states that will come from the new connection.

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A massive show of support in Gulf Coast communities for passenger rail

A massive show of support yesterday from the people of the Gulf Coast welcomed the first passenger rail train east of New Orleans since Katrina, with thousands of residents in scores of communities from New Orleans to Atmore, Alabama turning out to send a clear message to their elected leaders that they want passenger rail service back.

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A first step toward restoring passenger rail to the Gulf Coast

A train full of elected, civic and other local leaders from the Gulf Coast and beyond will ride a special Amtrak inspection train from New Orleans to Jacksonville, Florida this week — a step toward restoring the passenger rail service east of New Orleans wiped out by Hurricane Katrina more than ten years ago — and Transportation for America will be along for the ride.

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