ms. fleming. and, now, mr.kancke, we welcome you and invite you to give your testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the tough part about being the caboose is you cover a lot of track that the previous train has covered. keeping in light with all the other -- >> get a little closer, please. >> is that a little better? >> yes. >> good afternoon, chairman lautenberg, ranking member thune, and members of the committee. thank you for allowing me to have the opportunity to testify today. in 2005, i was appointed to the national surface transportation policy and revenue study commission by senate majority leader harry reid. in january of 2008, after two years of meetings, hearings and research, our commission recommended to congress a vision for transportation policy and funding in america. a new vision which includes a framework that will reform and hopefully revolutionize the way we do transportation policy and funding for the next 50 years. one of our recommendations was substantive reform of our passenger rail sys

ms. fleming to sort of follow-up that question too. do you think the department should take or make sure these forecasts, when it relies on this information that you want to make them as accurate as possible. i guess my question is, do you believe there ought to be a neutral party that evalue waits these forecasts too in addition to having the -- >> ridership and other forecasts are key factors in determining whether a project or a system is going to be economically viable. and unfortunately, you know, statistics and results have shown that ridership tends to be overestimated and costs tends to be underestimated. so we feel there are several ways to try to get and provide more reliable statistics. the first would be kind of following governor rendell which is really obligating the state and local governments to share some of the risks of underestimated costs. for those projects where they're seeking federal assistance. another way would be to abstain statements and forecasts from independent sources -- would be to obtain estimates and

ms. fleming and follow up that question, do you think the department should make sure these forecasts, when it relies on this information, that you want to make them as accurate as possible, and my question more directly is should there be some outside, neutral party that evaluates these forecasts too in addition to having them? >> ridership and other forecasts are key factors in determining whether a project or system is going to be economically viable. unfortunately, statistics, results have shown ridership is underestimated. we feel there are several ways to try to provide more reliable statistics. first would be falling governor rendell, obligating state and local governments to share some of the risk of underestimated cost where they are seeking federal assistance. another way would be to obtain estimates and forecasts from independent sources, where there isn't a specific project being considered. lastly, making the forecast subject to peer review, making it publicly available. making the data publicly available. those things would better insure the information would be more reliable.

ms. fleming talked about how they began with one trunk line, they did, running one 25 miles an hour, incrementally made the improvement to get them to roughly 20 trains a day. .. buildout, you know, a buildout much like the construction of the interstate highway system. and, again, we need to understand, the it v.g. system in france today, if you ride from paris to strawsburg, if you come out of paris you are going 200 miles an hour. 2/3 along the way you flow on to what they call traditional track and you're doing speeds of about 125 miles an hour. so it's not this either or proposition. >> mr. chairman, my time has expired. i thank you all very much. >> i'm called elsewhere. senator udall can going to take over and senator boxer will be next. senator hutchinson and then it's all up to senator udall from new mexico. he's going to fix the whole problem. >> senator lautenberg, on your way out the door, i just want >> on your way out the door i just want to thank you very much for this hearing, sir. and high-speed rail is critical. it was just really critical. i want to pick up on senator thune's co

ms. fleming, we welcome you and ask you to make your remarks now, please. >> mr. chairman, ranking member thune, ranking member hutchinson and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss high-speed inner city passenger rail and the american recovery and reinvestment act. the $8 billion provided by the act for high speed and other inner city passenger rail projects have focused more attention on and generated a great deal of anticipation about the possibility of developing high-speed rail systems in the united states. my testimony has two parts. i will discuss the factors that we have identified that affect the economic viability of high-speed rail projects and how f.r.a. strategic plan incorporates these factors. first, while the potential benefits of high-speed rail projects are many, these projects are costly, take years to develop and build and require substantial upfront public investment as well as potentially long-term operating subsidies. determining which, if any, high-speed rail projects may eventually be economically viable will

fleming june 18 for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? ms. woolsey: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous materials. ms. woolsey of california, mr. schiff of california, ms. richardson, california. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. paul of texas. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i wish to claim mr. paul's time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: thank you, madam speaker. the out of control violence along our border is made up of more complex elements than most people realize. the criminal cartels controling our southern border are a lot more powerful than we are led to believe. they are international organized cri