As the President’s ambitious passenger rail program falters, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is attempting to stem defections by presenting the train program as a jobs program. In a recent blog, LaHood stated: In Meridian, Mississippi, for example, a small town mayor leveraged $1.3 million of public dollars and $135 million of private dollars to build a downtown transportation hub. Now, Amtrak service comes to the station and brings 350,000 passengers a year through a town of only 40,000. Rail has breathed new life—and new business—into a historic community.
