Very cool. Kerry bill on high speed rail is attracting attention in Atlanta.

Undeterred, Isakson is about to reach across the aisle again, this time to John Kerry, the Democrat from Boston. The purpose: A revival of this country’s rail system, which — with luck — could give birth to a high-speed passenger train that would careen from Birmingham, through Atlanta, to Washington.

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Kerry’s office would not offer any details of the bill that the Massachusetts senator intends to drop sometime this month. But at least one draft is already floating around Atlanta business circles.

Isakson said the bill would fundamentally alter our method of capitalizing rail transportation, putting it on a footing similar to the way we fund airports, freeways and seaports. Governments, a combination of state and federal, would acquire the right-of-way and build tracks. User fees would pay for upkeep, levied by private rail corporations that would live or die on their own performance.

By some accounts, the Kerry legislation also permits the raising of $200 billion via bonds to finance a limited number of high-speed rail lines across the country.

Isakson said he intends to sign on as a co-sponsor to the Kerry measure. It fits neatly with his advocacy of high-speed rail in the South, which stretches back to his days in the U.S. House. He has long envisioned a line from Birmingham to Atlanta through the Carolinas to Richmond, thence to Washington.

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The Georgia business community is high on the idea. The missing ingredient in any discussion of rail has been political will.

Q & A: Isakson talks about high speed rail proposal
Georgia republican supports Sen. John Kerry’s railroad initiative
By ARIEL HART

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, September 14, 2008

In the midst of a faltering economy and a transportation funding crisis, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is planning to introduce what appears to be a major rail initiative, and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) is preparing to join him.

The idea is to finance an interstate high-speed rail network that could serve as the spine for local transit lines. Saying the current system is “broken,” Isakson advocates treating rail just as the government treats airports: The government builds the airports, and the airplanes that ferry passengers are private.

Kerry’s office wouldn’t answer questions about the measure, dubbed the High Speed Rail for America Act, but a letter he sent to colleagues talks big: “$200 million per year in grants, $8 billion in tax-exempt bonds, $10 billion in tax-credit bonds for high-speed intercity rail facilities, and $5.4 billion in tax-credit bonds for rail infrastructure.”

We talked to Isakson about the idea.

Q: Tell us about the initiative.

A: I have been very interested in the possibility of a high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Washington , very similar to the line from Boston to Washington that exists today. It’s … a corridor that has a great deal of congestion on the interstates like I-85, and it’s a great way to travel. … But I know the big deal with rail is being able to get the capital together at the beginning to put in the infrastructure to put in lines like that line. Sen. Kerry’s bill focuses on raising capital. … Given the fact we’ve gone through the difficulties that we have on energy, the price of gasoline, the limited supply of oil, it makes an awful lot of sense looking to the future to make investments in those types of transportation systems that will meet our needs as the 21st century unfolds.

Q: How big is what you’re proposing?

A: I don’t want you to go off on some track that I’ve got some grandiose plan for the world in terms of rail. … Kerry’s introducing legislation that deals with the funding of rail infrastructure, which from my interest, that goes back to the Birmingham to Washington run.

Q: If Kerry came out with this kind of more grandiose, much, much larger system idea, would you be inclined to support it?

A: I support creating the financing mechanism to reinvigorate rail in the United States of America and to focus on the things I’ve repeated myself on. … If that’s a part of the Kerry legislation, yes I can. And it is.

09/16/08: NARP Writes to Presidential Candidates

NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon sent a letter to the remaining Presidential contenders encouraging them to support development of passenger trains. . . .

07/17/08: NARP Expresses Support for CA HSR

NARP’s Executive Committee has approved a resolution in support of California’s High Speed Rail project and Proposition 1, which will be on the November ballot in California. .