it needs to have ontime delivery. it needs to be reliable or the public won't use it. albert einstein said we won't be able to -- let's change our patterns of thought so we can solve the problems we created with our current patterns and thauths. mr. chairman, you should be commended for having this hearing today to talk about high-speed passenger rail. your leadership demonstrates the change is -- changes in washington, d.c., and is right here in this committee. passenger rail is the future for moving americans and now is the time to make that investment. we need to restore hope and performance in our transportation system. our fellow citizens are counting on us to get it done. thank you. >> i would ask governor rendell a question. and that is president obama made high-speed rail a reality. the president has also proposed . i have to be a little cautious with the climate change money we are working arduously. to say that there are many problems, some of them more severe than others, among them for generations to follow, to breathe the air and conduct a healthy life wit

american public that high-speed passenger rail is going to be predictable, that it's going to be ontime and it's going to be reliable. and we do that two ways. one, we just make the investment. we don't talk about what the programs are going to look like. we've done that. we studied corridors. we know what the alignment should look like. i believe that we just need to do it. we need to step up, fund it, find the funding mechanisms that are needed and make the necessary investment. >> ok. >> i think it's just that simple. >> ok. so my last question. you said predictable, reliabl@⌞> train control and do it quickly so we can let people know we're moving forward on the safety question? >> yes, absolutely. first off, we have a congressional mandate to ensure that positive train control is implemented by the year 2015, and it's our intent to make sure that that deadline is met. secondly, it's impossible to talk about high-speed rail without at the same time talking about positive train control. again, using the european models, you know, they have their european train control. you can't have

american public that high-speed passenger rail is going to be predictable, that it's going to be ontime and it's going to be reliable. and we do that two ways. one, we just make the investment. we don't talk about what the programs are going to look like. we've done that. we studied corridors. we know what the alignment should look like. i believe that we just need to do it. we need to step up, fund it, find the funding mechanisms that are needed and make the necessary investment. >> ok. >> i think it's just that simple. >> ok. so my last question. you said predictable, reliable and you had another word. >> dependable. >> you didn't say safe. of course, it's obvious. >> yes, obviously. >> safe, it's got to be safe. my last question deals with the tragedy that happened on the metro line here. we just wrote a letter -- senator rockefeller and i -- to talk about the need to move forward with positive train control and other life-saving measures because we really are going to have to address this. this was awful, and we've seen these things happen in my state. so my question to you, and my