Rail money for Conn. on Obama's agenda

New Haven (WTNH) - One of the items on President Obama's agenda following his State of the Union address is improving rail lines across the country, and Connecticut is one of several states getting cash for rail projects.

Connecticut will get $40 million to start planning and building a high speed commuter rail line linking New Haven and Hartford.

It's part of the president's $8 billion stimulus plan to get the economy moving by building rail lines that will then get people moving faster on those tracks.

The biggest project by far is in California. They're getting two and a quarter billion dollars out there. Here in Connecticut, the state approved $26 million in bond money for the new rail line earlier this month in the hopes of attracting more federal money.

"This is great news for one of the most important and ambitious public transportation projects we have undertaken in years," Gov. Jodi Rell in a statement released Thursday. "I believe that a viable commuter rail system through the center of our state and region is not only important for commuters, but for the opportunities it brings to the communities up and down the line."

It's still in the planning stages, but the hope is to lay a second set of tracks between New Haven and Hartford, with connections that would go on to Springfield and further north, and eventually east from Springfield to Boston.

With other upgrades, the long term plan is to be able to commute from Hartford to either Boston or New York in less than two hours.