Iowa politicians seeks money for rails
Written by jrood
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver met with Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Joseph Szabo in an effort to get funding for Iowa rail projects back on track, especially a proposed passenger rail routes from Chicago to Iowa City and Chicago to Dubuque, the Mason City Globe Gazette reports.
Iowa and Illinois submitted
a joint application for federal stimulus funds for those routes, but they were
not funded when projects were announced last month. Iowa did receive $17.3
million for improvements to an existing Amtrak route in southern Iowa, as well
a $1-million planning study to extend the planned Chicago to Iowa City route on
to Des Moines and Omaha.
Representatives of Iowa
U.S. Reps. Bruce Braley, Dave Loebsack and Leonard Boswell and Sen. Tom Harkin
also attended the meeting as well as Iowa Transportation Director Nancy
Richardson.
