Hydrogen Intermodal Transporation
A Foundation for All Nations to Compete in the Global Economy
National High-Speed Rail Corridors
Three dozen states across the United States are now working with Amtrak to expand passenger rail service - of which 28 are developing regional high-speed corridors.
Legislation pending in Congress would authorize $10 billion in bonding over 10 years to finance high-speed rail projects undertaken in partnership with the states.
The funding would be used to upgrade rail lines for high-speed service, purchase locomotives and passenger cars and close grade crossings.
The national high-speed rail investment bill enjoys the support of 65 senators, 168 House members and a variety of business, labor and environmental groups.
The bond bill comes at a time when high-speed rail projects from Virginia to Chicago to California have taken root through joint initiatives by Amtrak and the states.
Midwest Regional Rail Initiative -- In late August, Amtrak with the states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan asked six train manufacturers to submit proposals to build a fleet of fossil fuel trains that could provide high-speed service in the Midwest.
Empire Corridor --
In New York State, the first of seven rebuilt Turboliners capable of 125 mph speeds between Albany and New York City recently came off the assembly line to begin testing. Atlantic Coast Corridor -- In northern Virginia, officials broke ground this summer on a $10 million infrastructure project hailed as the first step in creating a high-speed corridor between Washington and Richmond that ultimately would continue on to Charlotte and Atlanta.
California --
The state legislature has approved a $700 million funding request by Gov. Gray Davis to improve passenger rail. Amtrak and the state are completing plans for a five-year high-speed rail program.
Cascades Corridor --
Washington, Oregon, Amtrak and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad are engaged in a multi-year program to reduce travel times and increase service along the Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Vancouver line. Pacific Northwest service includes Talgo trains.
Significant progress also is being made on the Gulf Coast Corridor, connecting Atlanta and New Orleans; the Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia;
and in Florida. Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater designated two new corridors -
one serving northern New England and the other, a Dallas-based corridor serving Texas,
Oklahoma and Arkansas. Secretary Slater also extended the Keystone, Midwest, Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast corridors.
Amtrak Sets New Ridership, Revenue Records
The launch of Acela Express comes on the heels of Amtrak's strongest performance ever as the corporation continues to drive toward its commitment to end federal operating support by FY 2003. In FY 2000, which concluded Sept. 30, Amtrak set new records for ridership and ticket revenue, driven in part by its new Satisfaction Guarantee.
These trends are keeping Amtrak on its congressionally mandated glidepath to operational self-sufficiency by FY 2003.
ANR Coordinates
ANR (estimated at 45 seconds) will be broadcast via the AP/Westwood One regular afternoon feed and via the Business News Network.
USA Photo Maps v2.55 [308K] [Win98/2k/XP] [FREE]
USAPhotoMaps downloads USGS (United States Geodedic Survey) aerial photos from terraserver.microsoft.com and creates scrollable, zoomable, GPS-enabled maps from them. It offers special support for garmin GPS owners and an option to connect the GPS to the application in order to retrieve aerial photographs of the current location.
The program works fine, even if you don't have a GPS, all you need to do is enter the Longitude and Laditude numbers of the location that you want to view.
(You can find these numbers at mapblast.com). The photos are not live views, but are archived and usually about five years old.
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