80% in 25 years.  Thats the percentage of Americans that the new comprehensive plan for high-speed rail announced by Vice President Joe Biden will give access to high-speed rail in the next quarter century.

The Vice President made this announcement along with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.  Vice President Biden said of the plan, which in the coming fiscal year would invest $8 billion in expanding Americans’ access to high-speed passenger rail service, that:

As President Obama said in his State of the Union, there are key places where we cannot afford to sacrifice as a nation - one of which is infrastructure. As a long time Amtrak rider and advocate, I understand the need to invest in a modern rail system that will help connect communities, reduce congestion and create quality, skilled manufacturing jobs that cannot be outsourced. This plan will help us to do that, while also increasing access to convenient high speed rail for more Americans.

The construction of a high-speed rail network in the United States will not only spur manufaturing and create jobs, but it will also help small businesses that will likely pop up in and around train stations across the country.

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