President’s plan would target densely-populated regions such as the Midwest, California and Florida for short-range high-speed service such as Amtrak’s Boston-to-NYC Acela train
By Kevin Doyle
If President Obama’ vision comes to fruition, others in the United States could be exposed to what they’ve known along the Boston-to-New York rail corridor for some time now: High-speed train travel is the way to go.
The gleaming steel Amtrak Acela is the nation’s only high-speed service. Travel time from Boston’s South Station to downtown New York is about three and one-half hours and, at $124, it isn’t cheap. But it is convenient and it eliminates the hassle of missed connections at the airport.
On April 16, Mr. Obama unveiled his vision for a high-speed rail system that would be the most radical shift in US travel infrastructure since President Dwight Eisenhower set the Interstate Highway System in motion.
The Obama plan would zero in on densely populated regions such as the Midwest, California, and Florida, where short distances between cities would let fast trains compete with planes and cars. High-speed rails would cut US dependence on oil and stop 3 million tons of carbon emissions annually, according to the president’s plan.
The Obama proposal would create construction jobs to upgrade the existing infrastructure of railbeds, signals and crossings and, in some instances, carve out dedicated high-speed corridors. To jump-start the process, the administration proposes using $13 billion ($8 billion from the stimulus fund last fall and $1 billion a year for five years) to fund up to 10 high-speed-rail corridors.
Randal O’Toole, a transportation fellow at the Cato Institute, doubts that funding is sufficient. He calculates that the entire US system – if built for a “moderate speed” of 110 mph would cost about $50 billion – and 10 times that amount if it was to be truly high-speed at 200 mph.
Two types of projects would get funding. One could create new dedicated corridors for high-speed trains like those in Europe and Japan that exceed 200 mph. Another type would improve existing lines to make them “incrementally faster,” up to 110 mph. California, which is planning a 220-mph bullet-style service from Los Angeles to San Francisco, could receive billions, observers say.
“One thing’s clear, we’re not going to see bullet trains running all over the country,” says Ross Capon, president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. “But this effort would lay the foundation so that those kinds of projects become more plausible.”
Source: The Christian Science Monitor