美国建高速铁路 创造就业机会

We're back now with a look at an ambitious project that could make American think very differently about train travel and mean jobs to many who need them badly.

It's President Obama's plan to build a modern new high-speed rail network, the biggest investment in America's infrastructure in more than half a century. But what exactly will all that money buy? NBC’s Tom Costello takes a closer look.

It's an 8 billion dollar plan to transform the nation's transportation grid that may end up being the Obama administration's most visible job-creating legacy. "It will connect communities and each others in a way that in the past was impossible."

The planed 13 high-speed rail corridors in the biggest population centers, in the Pacific northwest and California, the Gulf Coast and Midwest, Florida and up the east coast.

Welcome news in communities nationwide. "Building the high speed rail will create 600,000 jobs in California. So this is really terrific!" "And our investment in rail, we believe it will create between 8 and 11 thousand new jobs."

With Amtrack ridership up 36% in 10 years, rail advocates say the country is hungry for more rail.

"I am on cloud nine, this is a historic moment both in terms of the amount of money that we are finally putting into passenger trains and the intelligence that was applied to how the money is being distributed."

At the moment, the Acela train along congested northeast corridor is the nation's only high speed rail line while overseas Europe and Asia have invested heavily in advanced high speed rail networks that daily move passengers between cites at 200 to 300 miles per hour.

But the US has a different definition of “high speed”. A diesel train, traveling at 90 miles per hour is considered as high speed in this country. And the Acela line can hit 150 but only on 35 miles of track in the northeast.

Amtrack CEO is excited about the new money, but also realistic, saying the entire system needs a dramatic infusion of cash.

More than just the tracks, for example, the Baltimore tunnels, Tom, were built right after the Civil War. They need to be upgraded. We can only go into Baltimore at 30 miles an hour.

Building out the high speed rail network proposed by the president will likely take more than 100 billion dollars of taxpayer money, which makes this initial 8-billion dollar investment simply a drop in the bucket.

So it's a matter of federal leadership at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and the willingness to keep the dollars flowing.

A down payment on a project that could take decades to complete.

Tom Costello, NBC News, Washington