Second effort for high-speed rail?

With President Obama”™s push for a national high-speed rail system at risk of derailment, Connecticut”™s high-speed rail manager said the state”™s own push for a major new line remains on track despite a $176 million shortfall at last report.

In November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would eliminate much of the funding being doled out nationally by the Obama administration. House Republicans, however, say they want to preserve funding for the Northeast Corridor, which they say is the only proven corridor to justify high-speed lines.

Obama wants $53 billion over six years for 13 new high-speed rail lines, including a spur from New Haven north through Hartford to Springfield, Mass. John Bernick, a Connecticut Department of Transportation manager leading the planning for that project, said the state already has sufficient funding in place to launch service in 2016.

As of late October, Connecticut had $471 million in available funding to support the projected $647 million cost of a new high-speed rail line, according to Tom Maziarz, an official with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, who broke down the finances at an October conference in New York City sponsored by the U.S. High Speed Rail Association. Maziarz added the state is continuing discussions with the Federal Railroad Administration about obtaining additional funding, as well as with the Federal Transit Administration.

Some in Fairfield County are skeptical that the line will justify its cost, saying the money would be better spent on improvements to the New Haven Line, which has a demonstrated track record.

The Malloy administration failed in an attempt to win more than $225 million in federal funding for high-speed rail freed up after Florida elected not to push ahead with a line, instead getting $30 million.

In a major win last month, however, the Federal Transit Administration approved $275 million in funding for Connecticut to create a rapid-bus-transit line for commuters west of Hartford. The state hopes to have 11 stations operating in 2014 along the Interstate 84 corridor as far west as New Britain, and says as many as 16,000 people could use the $567 million line. The bus line is expected to cut Hartford commute times by more than half.

Connecticut is paying $112 million for the line, with federal agencies covering the balance.

Speaking at the U.S. High Speed Rail Association conference, however, Florida Congressman John Mica pledged to focus high-speed rail funds on the Northeast Corridor in his role as chairman of the House transportation committee, possibly opening anew the prospect of Connecticut receiving additional funding.

In unveiling earlier this year a planned route for a new high-speed rail line connecting Boston to New York, Amtrak bypassed coastal Fairfield County and Connecticut on cost concerns, opting instead for a route north from New York City through Westchester County Airport to Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford.

In September, University of Pennsylvania planners proposed an alternate route that likewise would skip Fairfield County: south from Hartford to New Haven, then by tunnel to Long Island and John F. Kennedy Airport. That could result in a Boston-to-New York commute of less than two hours, with service to Washington, D.C., an additional 90 minutes.