HSR, transit hit by budget accord

At least $1.5 billion of the $2 billion belatedly added to Fiscal Year 2011 budget cuts last week come from the Obama Administration’s high speed rail initiative, along with some urban programs, analysts said Monday. Congressional leaders late Friday agreed to cutting $38 billion from the FY11 budget, with a formal vote scheduled for this week.

Fiscal Year 2011 (the current U.S. fiscal year) ends September 30, 2011.

Splitting hairs, one analyst noted the HSR funds “had yet to be obligated and thus arguably were not ‘cuts.’” A cut of $280 million in New Starts money largely is assignedto the $271 million originally slotted for New Jersey Transit’s Access to the Region’s Core trans-Hudson River rail tunnel, canceled last year by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The Federal Railroad Administration’s Research and Development account is reduced $2.513 million below FY 2010.

Amtrak’s FY11 budget remains largely intact, though with even larger budget cuts sought by the Republican House of Representatives for FY12, Amtrak once again is expected to endure the “perils of Pauline” scenario it has endured during much of its existence.

Amtrak aside, passenger rail advocates expressed displeasure. “Starving [rail passenger modes] is counterproductive to the goals of bolstering our national security, making the U.S. less dependent on expensive oil, and jumpstarting economic growth and job creation,” the National Association of Railroad Passengers said in a press release Monday. “Just a few days ago, the Department of Transportation reported that states requested almost four times the amount available for the next round of grants.