Lawmakers to launch passenger rail caucus

Amtrak vice president for high-speed rail Al Engel, North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti and Little Rock, Ark., Mayor Patrick Henry Hays will also attend. 

“High-speed rail is a major initiative of the Obama Administration with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Vice President Joe Biden as two of its most vocal cheerleaders,” the nascent caucus said in a statement Monday. “Despite the clear economic advantages to enhanced passenger rail transportation, funding for this vital investment is under attack from Republican slash and burn funding strategies.

“The founding co-chairs will join together to explain the clear economic benefits of high-speed rail and the value of these investments to their benefits of high-speed rail and the value of these investments to their respective corridors and to America’s well being,” the statement concluded.