Obama's rail plan speeds ahead

This week, President Obama unveiled his plan to develop a high-speed passenger rail (HSR) system in the United States. Although HSR has long been a talking point for the President, this is the first instance in which he has offered specifics.

The new rail plan is three-fold: initially, it will pour investment into infrastructure upgrades that have been approved but not yet funded. Later, it will fund high-speed rail planning and, subsequently, construction. In the process, it will also seek to improve rail service along existing lines, increasing the quality of current rail service and laying the track (as it were) for faster, more efficient rail in the future.