Pa. vies for high-speed rail money nixed by Fla.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is seeking more federal money to speed up the travel time of passenger trains between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.
A state Department of Transportation spokeswoman said today the agency applied for a portion of the $2.4 billion that became available when Florida’s governor canceled a high-speed rail project in his state.
PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters says Pennsylvania is seeking $248 million to speed up travel times on Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor East service by upgrading five switches.
The deadline to apply was Monday.
She says a record 1.27 million passengers used the service during the 2009-10 fiscal year.
PennDOT’s previous applications for $3.1 billion in federal high-speed rail money yielded less than $26 million to remove three vehicle-crossing points on the same stretch of rail.