Although I have always acknowledged the advantages of freight trains over trucks, until recently I never got around to really educating myself on the details and taking action on the issue.  I had to result to posting on forums to find these links, so I am writing this blog to aid others that may be looking to get in the loop. 

There is currently a bill to support:

The bipartisan Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act (“FRICEA,” H.R. 272) provides a 25 percent tax incentive for investments to expand rail capacity. Both railroads and other businesses can earn the incentives through projects like new tracks, tunnels, bridges, and inter modal facilities.  

Gorail.org has an action page to easily send a message to your congressmen supporting this bill. 

I also found some sites with mailing lists to subscribe to:

thefutureneedsus.com

Go21.org

createprogram.org

aar.org

lightrailnow.org

There are some other issues that I could not find action pages for, perhaps someone else has time to research it further:

There is an attempt by major corporations to bring back some kind of archaic regulatory structure so that they can get cheaper shipping costs.  I could not find much concrete info on this.

There is an attempt to increase the allowable size of trucks on our highways. 

Here in Syracuse (where 10% of the GDP of the country comes through on trucks riding I81) know the cost of our trucking system.  The danger, stench, noise, and cost of maintenance of the highways going through the heart of town keep parts of this town from ever being pleasant places to live.  (BTW go here to let the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council know what you think about the I 81 redevelopment, and see other local projects.)

Still we have a lot of opportunity for rail options here: the foundation for the old trolley car system (which used to be horse drawn) is still intact beneath our asphalt streets.  If we were to revive this system it would be far cheaper than starting fresh, mainly because we wouldn't have to worry about moving utilities.