FRA Announces High Speed Rail Workshops

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is holding High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Workshops as the agency begins to implement a vision for developing a cohesive national intercity and high-speed passenger rail network. This vision was set forth in FRA's Strategic Plan for High-Speed Rail (HSR) announced by President Obama, Vice President Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood, and sent to Congress on April 16, 2009.

The workshops will be led by FRA Deputy Administrator Karen Rae or Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo. Through these workshops, FRA is reaching out to the rail community in seven regions across the country to seek input on the Interim Guidance the agency is required to issue on or before June 17, 2009 for the $8 billion in grant funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for the high-speed rail corridors program, intercity passenger rail grants, and congestion grants. The workshops will enable FRA to discuss the HSR Strategic Plan with key stakeholders such as state departments of transportation, regional planning authorities, metropolitan leaders, associations and labor groups (under the ARRA, these workshops exclude the participation of lobbyists). The agency seeks input not only to provide it with your regional vision of high-speed and intercity rail networks, but to enable stakeholders to focus on the critical factors that will make this program a success for generations to come.

The goal of the workshop is to take the first steps toward determining how best to partner together to make the Strategic Plan a reality. During the workshop, you will have an opportunity to share experiences, raise concerns, provide insights, and make recommendations on several key issues and questions, as well as hear those of your colleagues and representatives from a regional perspective. The workshop schedule will include the following:

1. Introduction – 10 minutes
2. Overview of FRA strategic plan and next steps – 30 minutes
3. Amtrak presentation – 15 minutes
4. Q & A – 35 minutes
5. Regional presentation – 30 minutes
6. Break – 15 minutes
7. Working group break-out – 1 hour
8. Wrap-up – 15 minutes

The workshops will be held 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. on the following dates and locations:

Southeast Corridor: Charlotte – May 20th
Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel
2800 Coliseum Drive, Charlotte, NC 28205

Florida Corridor: Orlando – May 21st
Marriott Orlando Airport
7499 Augusta National Drive, Orlando, FL 32822

Pacific Northwest Corridor: Seattle – May 27th
Seattle Airport Marriott Hotel
3201 South 176th Street, Seattle, WA 98188

California Corridor: Sacramento – May 28th
Sacramento Marriott Rancho Cordova
11211 Point East Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742

South Central and Gulf Coast Corridor: Houston - May 29th
Marriott Houston Airport
18700 John F. Kennedy Blvd, Houston, TX 77032

Midwest Region: Chicago – June 1st
Union Station, Union Gallery (off the Great Hall)
210 South Canal Street, Chicago, IL 60606

Northeast Region: Philadelphia – June 2nd
The Westin Philadelphia
99 South 17th Street at Liberty Place Philadelphia

Due to practical space and time constraints, FRA asks that you only plan to attend the event that is nearest to your location or proposed corridor. Please RSVP at the following Web site: https://survey.deloitte.com/wsb.dll/5644/FRARegistration.htm, and indicate which workshop you will be attending no later than 3 days before the scheduled workshop, after which confirmed attendees will receive additional details regarding the location and program. Those wishing to attend without an RSVP may do so as long as space is available. (Despite the name survey in the URL, the website is not a survey, but rather a means to track the number of individuals who indicate that they will be attending particular workshop sessions.)

In addition to participating in the workshop, the agency is requesting the public to submit written comments to FRA by June 5, 2009 on issues that should be addressed in the Interim Guidance and specific recommendations on the criteria to be used in evaluating grant applications. FRA has created a public docket (Docket No. FRA-2009-0045) for the receipt of written comments. Please visit FRA's Web site at: www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/2236 For information regarding the various ways in which you may submit comments to the public docket.

Please note, additional sessions to aid states with the mechanics of applying for ARRA funds will be scheduled after these workshops, as will informational sessions for industry, labor, intergovernmental and other interested parties.