US Backs Lebanon On High-Speed Railway

A high-speed national rail network is being advanced by leading government figures as the solution to Lebanon‘s enduring congestion crisis.

   United States Transport Secretary, Mr. Ray LaHood told reporters on Friday on the inaugural part of his three-day visit, our correspondent  reported on Monday.

     LaHood – a frequent visitor to the region and the only Arab-American member of President Barack Obama‘s cabinet, met with President Michel Sleiman on Friday and Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Saturday to discuss cooperation on transportation and road safety. “We know that rail transportation will ease congestion in the country and so we are going to continue to work with (Sleiman and Hariri) as we make our plans for rail transportation,” LaHood said. “The fact that the prime minister and president talked to me about transportation issues and safety, I think, shows (that) there should be a big ray of hope,” he said.The question of how to ease traffic congestion is one of the biggest infrastructure challenges facing the country. It is well thought that only some 10 percent of Lebanese use public transport, while the most recent statistics-last available for 2004-show that Lebanon has the world‘s second-highest person-car ratio, falling only behind the US.The national rail system, which runs along the coast and connects Lebanon with Syria, has not functioned since the start of the 1975-90 Civil War and vast stretches of track are in a state of irreversible disrepair. LaHood has begun advising the government on how to optimise private-public partnerships, which would see foreign engineering firms specialised in high-speed rail collaborate with the government on joint infrastructure-building projects. The expansion of Rafik Hariri International Airport and Kleyate Airport, alongside the ongoing renovation of Tripoli port, are also seen as vital measures for easing congestion and featured prominently in LaHood‘s discussions with Transport Minister, Mr. Ghazi Aridi. The pair met on Friday and again on Saturday when they toured construction works under way at Beirut port. The introduction of a passenger water-taxi service was not discussed, LaHood explained. While promising to cooperate on transportation issues, the US has few concrete plans to help Lebanon address the challenges. “If you read any of the press accounts, you will know that we have very limited resources in the US right now,” LaHood said. “We‘re having trouble finding the money to finance our own transportation issues,” he added. A $50,000 US Agency for International Development grant was issued on Friday to Lebanese NGO Kunhadi, which runs road safety awareness campaigns tackling issues of seatbelt use as well as drunk and careless driving practices, such as cell phone use while motoring.”Safety has to become one of the top priorities for the country if automobile accidents and injuries can be prevented,” he said, adding that, “Seatbelts save lives.””We‘re going to work very closely with the interior minister, Ziyad Baroud, on the best practices in all three areas, taking what we have done and what has been successful,” he noted. Traffic accidents are thought to be the number one cause of death among the young in Lebanon, with government statistics showing that 80 percent of passengers, involved in fatal car accidents in 2008, were not wearing seatbelts.Declining to comment about the allegations of Scud missile transfers from Syria to Hizbullah, LaHood went on to stress his close relationship with the Lebanese government.”We believe in the sovereignty of Lebanon and we know that it is very important that we continue to have a very strong relationship,” he said. “I think that Lebanon is a very, very strong friend of the United States and it represents the kind of friendship that the US really cherishes.”