High-speed Trains Finally Coming to the US?
$13 Billion is said to be going towards building a high-speed US passenger railroad system over the next 5 years. This is phenomenal and I am in full support, here are a few good reasons from the New York Times article:
“With clogged highways and overburdened airports, economic growth is suffering, Mr. Obama said”
“What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century,” he said, “a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility, a system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity, a system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.” And he added, “There’s no reason why we can’t do this.”
So the real question seems to be – why has it taken this long to be recognized that this is a necessity? The rest of the world, especially China, Japan and Europe have outstanding high-speed trains connecting cities and countries together flawlessly.
The next question that popped into my head was – are high-speed trains in the US economical? I started doing some research and found a great blog completely deticated to trains in America. Although this does not directly answer the question, its a great post regarding some of the proposed railroads in the US and their economic effects.
Have others used trains around the world for travel? Would this work in the US?
This is going to be a tricky needle to thread in terms of the infrastructure investment necessary to make something like HSR an effective way forward. The biggest issue I think I would have centers around city transit – sure things might be great if you’re running into NYC, D.C., or to a lesser extent Chicago – but what are my options once I get to Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, or Michigan? Public transit and even taxi infrastructure in so many places around the country are simply unprepared for a better networked US.
Look at history. Most major US infrastructure projects were results of depressions or recessions. Under economic conditions where short-term cost dictate investment there is little to no incentive to build out the large, but often necessary projects.
Personally I believe this recession will do more than teach us a lesson, it will foster an economy where we are forced to work on large, expensive, and step change infrastructure projects.