Buttigieg, Pelosi, Other Leaders Headline U.S. High-Speed Rail Conference

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Greater than 200 business, labor, political and educational leaders converged to advance methods and insurance policies for constructing a nationwide bullet prepare community in America.

Highlighted audio system here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Home Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, former White Home Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu, and different high-profile advocates for high-speed rail headlined the U.S. Excessive Velocity Rail annual convention Could 14-15 in Washington, D.C. They had been amongst greater than 200 business, labor, political and educational leaders who converged to advance methods and insurance policies for constructing a nationwide bullet prepare community in America.

Convention audio system asserted that America is coming into a brand new period of progress on high-speed rail, following unprecedented investments by the Biden Administration; Brightline West breaking floor on a bullet prepare from Las Vegas to Southern California final month; main new labor agreements; and federal designation of seven high-speed rail corridors across the nation (together with Dallas to Houston and Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, BC.)

On the convention, classes targeted on a variety of plans to show high-speed rail into a serious mode of transportation in America. Panelists mentioned methods to launch new high-speed rail initiatives in main areas throughout the nation, massively velocity up high-speed rail development timelines and make sure the preliminary bullet prepare initiatives taking form within the nation efficiently display the sweeping advantages of high-speed rail.

Right here’s what a number of the main convention audio system mentioned:

U.S. Home Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi:
“One of the biggest challenges in our country, at the kitchen table, because of cost, is housing, housing, housing. All over the country. Mass transit and high-speed rail is an answer to that. … If you’re talking clean air, this is an answer. If you’re talking about a measure of job creation, this is an answer. Any subject you can bring up from environmental protection to you name it, high-speed rail and mass transit is an answer to it.”

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg:
“I’m coming to this increasingly now as a parent. Our twins are two and a half years old. I was on drop-off duty this morning and they have begun — I have no idea why — they’ve been asking me about my work. … I tell them I work on cars, that I work on planes and that I work on trains, and I’m working on making those trains go faster. And one of the things I really love is the thought that they’re two and a half now, and if we hit our marks, they will never know a world without high-speed rail in the United States.”

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla:
“It’s not just about high-speed rail in California, or now with the Brightline project connecting the Los Angeles region to Las Vegas…These are really initial legs in what I think is an eventual national network.”

White Home Advisor Mitch Landrieu:
“It really follows a kind of simple motto that the president has — if you invest in the American people, and you invest in building things in America, and you build it from the bottom up and make sure everybody is included, everybody does better.”

Former California Governor Jerry Brown (through video):
“In California, this is something we’ve been working on not just for years, but for decades. It’s not just the product of one politician or one party. We’ve required both Republicans and Democrats. Arnold Schwarzenegger got the ball rolling. Before that, when I was governor for the first time, I’d suggested studies to get the ball rolling with high-speed rail. And now, after my term in office and Gavin Newsom following up, we have a continuity. We have a continuing investment, expressing a strong political will. If you want to do that in other parts of America, that’s what it takes.”

Ray LaHood, former U.S. Transportation Secretary and U.S. Excessive Velocity Rail Coalition Co-Chair:
“Without the national government taking the initiative, without the national government in China, Japan, Europe — that’s why they have good trains, comfortable trains, affordable trains. Because the national government set the standard and put forth the money. … If people say to you, ‘How do we get rail?’ You’ve got to have leadership at the top.”

Brightline CEO Mike Reininger:
“Probably one of the most important end results of this program is, it is the beginning of an industry. This is where the next one and the next one and the next one start. And so the expertise, whether it’s construction expertise or technological expertise, is really going to be put to the test in this program. It will make the second, third and fourth ones easier.”

Amtrak HSR SVP Andy Byford
“California is making great strides, and Brightline is making superb progress and people have said, ‘Well, hang on a minute, where’s Amtrak in all of this?’ … These things start small — seeds that develop into large oaks — but we are putting together Amtrak’s national strategy as America’s railroad.”

U.S. Excessive Velocity Rail CEO Andy Kunz:
“The latest federal investments are an enormous enhance to American high-speed rail. However let’s not child ourselves. We’re going to want a whole bunch of billions of {dollars} and main coverage reforms to develop a high-speed rail community worthy of our nice nation…The U.S. Excessive Velocity Rail Affiliation and our rising advocacy coalition are laser-focused on addressing these challenges and seizing the historic alternatives earlier than us.

Different audio system included: Rod Diridon, U.S. Excessive Velocity Rail Coalition Co-Chair and Chairman Emeritus, Mineta Transportation Institute; U.S. Representatives Jim Costa, Seth Moulton, Suzan DelBene and Rick Larsen; Amit Bose, head of the Federal Railroad Administration; Roger Millar, Washington State Transportation Secretary; Terry Hynes, Senior Counsel, Sidley Austin, LLP; Philippe Lorand, Senior Advisor, UIC (France); Maria Luisa Dominguez, Board Advisor, ADIF (Spain).

For extra convention info, go to https://hsr2024.com/. Zoom recordings of convention classes may be accessed through these hyperlinks: Attend by Zoom

Day 1a:
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Day 1b:
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Passcode: Lr?8= Vh

Day 2a:

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/NCyvyvy8SgDB0GtC5OSmKnJGKfqDBJmut0MTxuP0rc-7N_i30knWEz6kdaeNqVLs.AdmGXGAYFiJqkVCZ?startTime=1715775992000

Passcode: zm0percent2zC$

Day 2b:

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/NCyvyvy8SgDB0GtC5OSmKnJGKfqDBJmut0MTxuP0rc-7N_i30knWEz6kdaeNqVLs.AdmGXGAYFiJqkVCZ?startTime=1715790338000

Passcode: zm0percent2zC$

About USHSR

The U.S High Speed Rail Coalition mobilizes main labor unions, corporations, and public servants to advance investments and insurance policies which might be making high-speed rail a actuality in America. The Coalition has aggressively advocated for funding for Brightline West, California Excessive Velocity Rail, and different key initiatives lately.

SOURCE US Excessive Velocity Rail Affiliation, through PRNewswire