The Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) are awarding $2.4 billion for planning and construction of intercity passenger rail service for 54 projects in 23 states.

With the award of this money, the U.S. DOT says “we’re moving full-speed ahead toward a nationwide high-speed rail system.

“President Obama signed the Recovery Act to build bridges between the Americans who needed jobs and the infrastructure jobs that needed doing. One of those jobs was creating a 21st century rail system in the United States,” the U.S. DOT notes in an official agency announcement.