The sequestration process that went into effect March 1 cuts $656 million from the FTA budget and may lead to furloughs—a situation that FTA Administrator Peter M. Rogoff said “breaks my heart.”

In his remarks at the Opening General Session of the recent APTA Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, Rogoff said the sequester cuts push the FTA budget back to the 2009 funding level. He said these cuts could affect public transportation projects currently in the pipeline and may mean cuts to all New Starts projects—all at a higher cost to the taxpayer.

Rogoff emphasized that public transit professionals and their partners need to “make the case” to their members of Congress. “Let them know that even people who never use public transit themselves benefit from these investments,” he added.”

Sequestration is not the only threat facing FTA funding, he said. “We can’t accomplish our goals without support from Congress and from you,” Rogoff told the session audience. “However, the course of progress faces real and present threats.” He pointed to the House’s proposal, ultimately defeated, to eliminate the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund.

Rogoff called public transportation an “engine” to improve the economy and said MAP-21 is “the culmination of many of the administration’s priorities,” which include instituting safety standards for public transit rail and streamlining the New Starts process to begin work faster.

Also at the session, FRA Administrator Joseph C. Szabo focused on federal and state achievements in rail as part of a move toward “achieving world-class transportation.” He said: “In order to remain the leading global economy, it is absolute that [the U.S.] must advance our transportation system . . . each mode working in unison with the others to ensure the efficient movement of people and goods.”

He reported that 2012 was the safest year in U.S. rail history and that intercity trains between Chicago and St. Louis, and Chicago and Detroit, now operate at 110 mph, the fastest service outside the Northeast Corridor. “The $19 billion this administration has invested in rail since 2009 is building, improving, or creating 6,000 corridor miles, 40 stations, 75 planning studies, and 30 state rail plans or service development plans,” Szabo continued.

Szabo also cited plans to upgrade the Northeast Corridor through both new construction and repair projects, as well as station enhancements in Boston, Washington, at BWI Airport, and the Moynihan Station project in New York City.

Two federal programs referenced by the administrator—the Rebuild America Partnership and the “Fix it First” program—would create jobs while also building and improving U.S. infrastructure. The Rebuild America Partnership leverages private-sector investment to create infrastructure jobs, while “Fix it First” targets the nation’s most urgent infrastructure repairs.

“Rail can be the most cost-effective, least oil-reliant, and most environmentally friendly mode to move people and freight,” he said. “Two railroad tracks can carry as many travelers in an hour as 16 lanes of freeway.”

The overhaul of U.S. rail will take time and resources, but, Szabo said: “The Interstate Highway System started with eight lonely miles in the middle of rural Kansas. It took 10 Administrations and 28 sessions of Congress to complete—but, year by year, piece by piece, we got it done.”

FTA Administrator Peter M. Rogoff, left, and FRA Administrator Joseph C. Szabo