The announcement was made at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, a hub for passenger rail service linking Boston, Washington D.C., and Pittsburgh. Vice President Biden said the president's budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 will include $8 billion for high-speed rail. The remainder of the funds will be allocated over a six-year time period. President Obama is expected to unveil his budget blueprint next week.

In a statement Vice President Biden said, "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. 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."

Tuesday's declaration follows a major announcement by Amtrak in Trenton, New Jersey on Monday (see related story).

The Obama administration says making the $53 billion investment over the next six years will ensure that 80% of the nation's population will have access to either high-speed or intercity passenger rail service by the year 2036.

Republicans Skeptical about Future High-Speed Rail Investment

Contrary to President Obama's aim to significantly increase investment in high-speed rail, House Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica, R-Florida, and Railroads Subcommittee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pennsylvania, Wednesday issued a joint statement expressing "extreme reservations" regarding the Obama plan.

Mica said "this is like giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio. With the first $10.5 billion in Administration rail grants, we found that 1) the Federal Railroad Administration is neither a capable grant agency, nor should it be involved in the selection of projects, 2) what the Administration touted as high-speed rail ended up as embarrassing snail-speed trains to nowhere, and 3) Amtrak hijacked 76 of the 78 projects, most of them costly and some already rejected by state agencies," Mica added. "Amtrak's Soviet-style train system is not the way to provide modern and efficient passenger rail service."

Shuster said, "Rail projects that are not economically sound will not 'win the future.' It just prolongs the inevitable by subsidizing a failed Amtrak monopoly that has never made a profit or even broken even. Government won't develop American high-speed rail. Private investment and a competitive market will."

The Obama administration announced $8 billion in Recovery Act grants for intercity and high-speed passenger rail projects a year ago last month. In the first year, the Federal Rail Road Administration gave the green-light to proceed on almost $4.3 billion worth of projects. Based on congressional appropriations, 29 states and the District of Columbia have received grant funds.

The FRA is expected to approve additional funding for passenger rail projects. However, House Republicans in January approved a resolution directing the House Budget Committee chairman to set non-security discretionary spending limits for the remainder of this fiscal year. The move would roll back spending to Fiscal Year 2008 levels.

Democrats have argued that, among other things, such cuts could hurt the economy and cost jobs.