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Blueprint America correspondent Rick Karr updates a NewsHour report on freight rail congestion in the Midwest as a third of a billion dollars in federal subsidies is on its way to the backlogged region.
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Rep. Jim Oberstar (D., MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has been at odds with the Obama Administration on when to take up his recently introduced transportation bill: THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009.
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A 2008 report by the Federal Transit Administration, “Transit State of Good Repair,” said one-quarter of the nation’s bus and rail assets are in marginal or poor condition. Still, any federal mass-transit inspections or findings are nothing but symbolic at-best. Unlike with the Food and Drug Administration, for example, the government cannot recall flawed equipment or issue citations for ignoring recommendations.
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When the stimulus bill was passed last February, it sent billions of dollars to the nation's mass-transit agencies. Still, the money was purposed for only new equipment and construction -- nothing to operate the systems, even as many are cutting service, laying off workers or raising fares.
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An interview with the ranking minority member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee about the recent developments of the transportation bill.
(8 votes) Loading ...The Monday Metro accident in Washington, D.C., when a train car rear-ended another killing nine people, involved some of the oldest cars in the city’s young subway system. The cars had already been said to have vulnerabilities. Washington, however, is not the exception for using equipment that is outdated.
(2 votes) Loading ...Though the cause of the accident is still speculated, especially following two recent rail accidents nationally in the past year, officials said today the Metro train car involved was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash.
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No longer is the argument for investment in renewable energy just about climate change. As America's economy is in rescission, renewable energy could create a boom in good paying jobs -- 'green jobs'. KCET in Southern California reports how some untypical students at an East Los Angeles school and an economically hard hit community are hoping to make it in a green economy.
(2 votes) Loading ...Expiring on October 1, the law authorizing federal highway and transit programs was expected to be renewed sometime this legislative session. This past Wednesday, however, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asked for an 18 month extension of the transportation law that would delay the planned reauthorization past the 2010 congressional midterm elections.
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