Colorado has received $400,000 and Vermont $500,000 under the Federal Railroad Administration's High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program grant program funded from fiscal year 2009 appropriations. Colorado will use its funds to develop a state rail plan, a prerequisite for receiving additional HSIPR intercity passenger rail funding.

Vermont will conduct a study of a proposed rerouting of Amtrak's Ethan Allen service between Rutland, Vt., and Albany, N.Y., which would result in additional cities receiving rail service.

FRA has now released more than $136 million for the HSIPR program, a significant portion of which comes from the Obama Administration's $8-billion down payment for the creation of a national network of interconnected high-speed rail corridors in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.