A report today by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group points out what several Times readers have noticed -- the Obama Administration's recently announced $8 billion stimulus program for trains hardly brings "high-speed rail" to most regions, including the Northwest.

"Many of these proposals have been geared not toward building the truly "high-speed" passenger rail systems in the decades to come, but simply toward restoring passenger rail service to a basic level of adequacy," USPIRG says.

So the lobbying group is urging a bigger commitment: to link all cities with fast track lines 100 to 500 miles long by midcentury. USPIRG has been asking members of Congress to channel $50 billion in future gas taxes toward the program, said Blair Anundson of WashPIRG, which held a regional news conference Tuesday at Seattle's King Street Union Station.

In the last round of stimulus funding, states requested $57 billion for new rail projects, seven times the amount of money available.

Washington state is getting $590 million for the Cascadia line, from Blaine to the Columbia River. Extra tracks will be added at ports to separate freight from passenger trains, and curves in Everett will be straightened, among other projects. "Positive train control" systems will be installed to slow or stop trains that get too close, allowing speeds to exceed the current 79 mph limit. Still, this first round of projects shaves only 10 minutes off the 3 1/2-hour Seattle-to-Portland trip, while greatly improving on-time performance.

The Amtrak Cascades ridership has improved from 95,000 in 1994 to 770,000 in 2008, the report says, citing state data. By 2030, speeds are supposed to reach up to 110 mph, and a Seattle-to-Portland trip would take only 2 1/2 hours, after a hoped-for $6.5 billion investment.

The left-leaning USPIRG recommends a national infrastructure bank, taxes on increased land value near station, money from "cap-and-trade" carbon reduction policies, airport surcharges and highway funds to pay for the train vision. The nation would still lag far behind China, but should try to match Europeans in rail investment, the report says.