Long post today, but I really feel like I want to write on this topic.
Wired.com has an absolutely fantastic overview of high-speed rail up today, and it’s a must-read:
Superfast Bullet Trains Are Finally Coming to the U.S.
I’ve written about high-speed rail in the past, and will probably continue to do so. I’m a HUGE fan of high-speed rail, and have been for many years.
Unfortunately (to our great shame and detriment) we’re terrible at thinking long-term in this country. Our stubborn refusal here in the US to invest in long-term infrastructure improvement projects – and our love affair with the automobile – has caused the greatest industrial nation in the world to fall far behind Europe and Asia, who have already been using high-speed rail to grow their economies and create opportunity for their citizens for DECADES.
The American transportation industry has stagnated, and we’re now going backward instead of forward. Our current transportation infrastructure is in a terrible state of decay… we’ve even fallen behind China. This is completely unacceptable, to my mind, when we have the workforce and resources in this country to make quality high-speed rail a reality.
It’s time for we Americans to do a reality check: air travel in the US is becoming more frustrating, more inhibitive, more uncomfortable, more dangerous and more expensive. Our rail system as it currently exists here in the US, is a joke. Automobile travel is slow, cumbersome and expensive. High-speed trains are capable of travelling in excess of 200 mph… they’re the alternative that we need to provide safe, inexpensive, quick and comfortable travel between major cities and regions.
It’s long past time for the US to get into the game… I’m absolutely thrilled to see the President taking this project seriously, and so many of our forward-thinking state Governors using stimulus funds to develop regional HSR systems. It’s LONG overdue.
The development of a national high speed rail system will absolutely transform this country… it will create millions of jobs and thousands of small businesses that are directly and indirectly related to the industry, and provide tremendous economic opportunity for American citizens who will finally be able to travel between major cities quickly and effortlessly for both work and leisure.
It will also have a tremendous impact on our dependence on foreign oil, something that all Americans should get behind.
When the White House announced last spring that it would allocate billions of stimulus dollars to high-speed-rail projects, states submitted 45 applications for more than $50 billion in aid. In the end, the Federal Railroad Administration decided to distribute $8 billion in funding to 31 states, with the biggest single grants going to California ($2.3 billion) and Florida ($1.3 billion). (Source: Time)
A foot in the door, to be sure, but it’s a great start.
High-speed rail has literally transformed the economy of every nation that uses it, and it will transform ours in the same way. Regional high-speed rail is the first important step… it may take twenty to thirty years to improve existing lines and services, develop regional systems in every state and connect them all to build a national high speed rail system, but we have to start somewhere. In the long run, it will be worth every single penny of our investment.
I’m extremely thrilled that we’ve finally gotten started on this project, and I hope to live long enough to see a national high-speed rail system in the US finally come to fruition. It’s a long-term investment in American infrastructure that will benefit our children, our childrens’ children, and all future generations.
More on high-speed rail, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail




