President Barack Obama is calling for a new 6-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail development in the United States.

The proposal is part of a larger plan to improve the country’s aging infrastructure and at the stame time jump-start job creation. 

An initial request for $8 billion in funding for the project will appear before Congress on Monday in the president’s new budget proposal.

If approved, the money would go toward developing or improving trains that travel up to 250 mph and linking existing rail lines to new projects.

During his State of the Union address last month, President Obama said he wanted to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed trains within 25 years.

Source: AP