Robert Torricelli: “This is the moment to build this high-speed rail system. It is in this legislation. It is identical to the legislation…”

“This is the moment to build this high-speed rail system. It is in this legislation. It is identical to the legislation cosponsored by 56 Senators, including Senator Lott and Senator Daschle. Use this moment to build this system. The legislation also includes $2 billion toward the engineering and construction of a new Trans-Hudson tunnel between New York and New Jersey. This is vital. There has not been a rail tunnel built between New York, connecting it with the rest of the Nation, since 1920. The existing tunnels do not have escape mechanisms. They do not have adequate fire protection. They are old and they are slow. This legislation will immediately begin the engineering and then the funding of a new rail tunnel. So if in any future emergency or terrorist attack we lose the existing tunnels, there will be one safe, modern, fast tunnel to connect New York with the remainder of the Nation and allow in New Jersey an Amtrak for the rest of the country to expand the rail commuter network, which is now at capacity, to get more people out of their automobiles and onto trains, throughout suburban New Jersey, into Manhattan. Nothing would convince employers to remain in Manhattan longer and invest better than the knowledge there will be a rail network to get employees there in the decades ahead. Our constituents are giving us exactly that message. Ridership is up 45 percent from New Jersey to New York City since September 11.”