5 High-Speed Rail ProjectsTo Watch

States are getting more than $10 billion from Uncle Sam to jump-start high-speed passenger rail service -- a signature initiative for the Obama administration.

States are getting more than $10 billion from Uncle Sam to jump-start high-speed passenger rail service -- a signature initiative for the Obama administration. And even more money is on the way, despite budget fights in Congress.

So far, about 135 projects have the green light. They include making existing passenger trains faster (running over 100 miles per hour) as well as building infrastructure to accommodate truly high-speed bullet trains operating at 200 miles per hour or more.

While speedier passenger service will help ease the strain on other transportation, it’ll also bring an unexpected benefit -- faster shipments of a wide variety of goods from farmers and manufacturers to retail stores and consumers. How?

By improving existing track shared by freight and passenger trains.

We picked four projects to focus on that are either getting the lion’s share

of funding or are the first to be physically under way.

The slide show begins with the navigation under the image above.

By Jim Patterson

Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

February 2011