Left to founder in Committee during the last Congress, a slightly amended High Speed Rail Act has already gained momentum through the newfound support of both Republican and Democratic Senate leadership and sustained media attention on the need to support an alternative to increasingly crowded airports and highways.

The High Speed Investment Act of 2001 (S250) would authorize Amtrak to sell $12 billion in bonds for capital investment that would offer Federal tax credits to investors in lieu of interest payments. The Act allows the release of $1.2 billion in bonds each year through 2011 to fund rail corridor projects for which states provide 20% matching funds. At least $3 billion is expected to be set aside for upgrades to the Northeast Corridor that would be exempt from this requirement. .

Amtrak executives offered a more detailed picture of how funds would be spent with the release of the company's first ever long-term capital plan on February 4th. The plan calls for $1.5 billion of annual Federal capital investment over the next twenty years, a large jump from the $2.2 billion received in total over the last four years. Arguing that rail investment is the most efficient use of transportation dollars, the capital plan pointed to the Northeast Corridor. According to the plan, a retired $50 million proposal to widen I-95 in Connecticut would move 45 more people per hour for every $1 million invested, while adding a third track to the parallel rail corridor would move ten times that number for the same amount of money.