acelaWASHINGTON - The Obama Administration is looking at the creation of a bond program to help fund high speed passenger lines, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has reported. Vice-President Joseph Biden has revealed the administration’s plan, saying it’s clear more funding will be needed to make the administration’s plan a reality.

Biden described the $8 billion allocated for high speed rail in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a “down payment” on a national fast-train network. “We do know $8 billion is not going to put in place an entire high speed rail system in America, but it’s 8 billion times more than we had prior to the recovery act.”

Biden said the need for better passenger service is part of the need for “rebalancing” the nation’s transportation network. And despite the ambitiousness of the proposal, he said there is a precedent. “Let me remind you, the interstate highway system started the same way,” he said.

Biden, a former Delaware senator, has logged, by his count, nearly 8,000 round trips on the Acela Express, which goes as fast as 150 mph.

“This has sort of been a hobbyhorse of mine for the past 25 years,” he said, touting high-speed rail as a way to cut congestion and greenhouse-gas emissions, with line construction boosting employment.

As for that $8 billion, Biden said officials expect to have all the applications in by June 17 and start awarding money by the end of the summer.