The state Department of Transportation is seeking money from an $8-billion fund established for high-speed rail as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

PennDot requested $489.8 million for upgrades to the Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg section of the "Keystone Corridor." The funding -- for track, signal, power, and catenary improvements, and the addition of a third express track between Atglen and Paoli -- would allow trains to reach speeds of 125 m.p.h., up from the current 110.

The state asked for $401 million for restoring passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City, along the "Lackawanna Cutoff."

The largest application was for $2.3 billion to design and build the first segment of a magnetic-levitation train line from the Pittsburgh airport to downtown.