SF 1015

as introduced - 80th Legislature (1997 - 1998) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the President and Congress to provide 
  1.3             increased funding for the planning and construction of 
  1.4             high speed rail in the Midwest.  
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, the development of the transportation 
  1.7   infrastructure in the United States has historically been 
  1.8   initiated and primarily funded by the federal government, in 
  1.9   partnership with the states and private investors; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, federal funding for highways and aviation has 
  1.11  increased over the past ten years, while funding for passenger 
  1.12  rail has remained stagnant; and 
  1.13     WHEREAS, federal funding for rail in 1996 was less than 
  1.14  three percent that of the combined total of federal funding for 
  1.15  road, air, and rail; and 
  1.16     WHEREAS, federal funding that has been designated for high 
  1.17  speed rail has been largely focused on the Northeast corridor, 
  1.18  without comparable investments in other regions; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, the midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, 
  1.20  Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin have 
  1.21  exhibited their commitment to passenger rail through 403(b) 
  1.22  funding, total funding for rail in some areas, and various 
  1.23  feasibility studies for the development of high speed rail; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, the continued vibrancy of the Midwest regional 
  1.25  economy depends on the availability of modern infrastructure to 
  2.1   move people and goods quickly, safely, and economically; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, high speed ground transportation is a safe, 
  2.3   environmentally benign, energy-efficient, cost-effective 
  2.4   passenger transportation option that can best link metropolitan 
  2.5   areas lying 100 to 500 miles apart, through intermodal 
  2.6   connections to metropolitan transportation systems; and 
  2.7      WHEREAS, the major metropolitan areas of Illinois, Indiana, 
  2.8   Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin are all 
  2.9   within the 100-to-500-mile range of the central city of Chicago; 
  2.10  and 
  2.11     WHEREAS, according to August 1996 Federal Railroad 
  2.12  Administration projections, current Amtrak ridership of 1.2 
  2.13  million annual trips on the "Chicago Hub" corridors would 
  2.14  increase at least five to six times if high speed rail were 
  2.15  instituted along those corridors; and 
  2.16     WHEREAS, the Federal Railroad Administration further 
  2.17  projects cost/benefit ratios very favorable to the development 
  2.18  of high speed rail in the Midwest, among them reductions in air 
  2.19  pollution and highway and air congestion due to diversion of air 
  2.20  and automobile trips to rail; and 
  2.21     WHEREAS, every study of high speed rail has concluded that 
  2.22  if such a system were developed in the Midwest, it would be 
  2.23  operationally self-sufficient; and 
  2.24     WHEREAS, high speed intercity trains are three times as 
  2.25  energy efficient for moving passengers as commercial airplanes 
  2.26  and six times as efficient as automobiles with one occupant; and 
  2.27     WHEREAS, between 1964 and 1992, over three billion trips 
  2.28  were made on Japan's bullet train without a single fatality or 
  2.29  serious injury, while the equivalent volume of highway travel in 
  2.30  the United States would have resulted in over 2,000 fatalities; 
  2.31  and 
  2.32     WHEREAS, development of high speed rail would bring jobs 
  2.33  and infrastructure development to the region while also 
  2.34  relieving congestion of air travel and highways; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.35     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.36  that it strongly urges the federal government to work in 
  3.1   partnership with the states to develop a high speed rail 
  3.2   passenger network in the Midwest.  
  3.3      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it urges the federal government 
  3.4   to designate the Minneapolis-Milwaukee-Chicago-Indianapolis- 
  3.5   Cincinnati and the Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland rail corridors as 
  3.6   high speed rail corridors and logical complements to the St. 
  3.7   Louis-Chicago-Detroit corridor already so designated. 
  3.8      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it urges the federal government 
  3.9   to provide increased funding for the planning and construction 
  3.10  of high speed rail in the Midwest, through increased designation 
  3.11  for high speed rail funding in Intermodal Surface Transportation 
  3.12  Efficiency Act (ISTEA) reauthorization, appropriations under the 
  3.13  Swift Rail Development Act of 1994, and other mechanisms as 
  3.14  deemed appropriate. 
  3.15     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it urges that the members of 
  3.16  the Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) High Speed Rail Task 
  3.17  Force be committed to work together to bring high speed rail to 
  3.18  the region of the aforementioned seven states through 
  3.19  public/private partnerships and that these states commit to 
  3.20  raise the visibility of high speed rail as a sound and 
  3.21  economically viable transportation need, through education and 
  3.22  development of public policy favorable to high speed rail.  
  3.23     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it urges that the members of 
  3.24  the MLC High Speed Rail Task Force be committed to work to 
  3.25  ensure that the upcoming ISTEA reauthorization includes funding 
  3.26  and eligibility for intercity rail, high speed rail, Amtrak, and 
  3.27  other necessary rail investments.  
  3.28     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.29  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  3.30  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  3.31  States, the Secretary of Transportation, the President and the 
  3.32  Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk 
  3.33  of the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the 
  3.34  Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the 
  3.35  chair of the House Committee on Transportation and 
  3.36  Infrastructure, the members of Congress from the states of 
  4.1   Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin, 
  4.2   Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress, the 
  4.3   President of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation 
  4.4   (Amtrak), and the Federal Rail Administrator.