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April 16, 2009 By Elaine Rundle
Today President Barack Obama revealed a strategic plan to accelerate the development of high-speed rail across the country. He said high-speed rail is necessary to improve the environment and reduce traffic congestion and dependence on foreign oil.
In February, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated $13 billion for the development of high-speed rail. The Obama administration designated an additional $5 billion for it in the White House's proposed budget that will be disbursed in $1 billion increments over five years beginning with fiscal 2010.
The federal government classifies high-speed rail as trains between cities that travel at least 110 mph.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration press release, likely recipients of the funding are: California, the Pacific Northwest, south central, the Gulf Coast, the Chicago hub network, Florida, the southeast, Keystone, Empire and northern New England.
Obama wants state and local communities to create plans of 100- to 600-mile corridors, and the grants may be disbursed as early as late summer 2009.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/featured/High-Speed-Rail-Strategic-Plan-Released.html
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Having just returned from a week in Paris, my wife and I were amazed at the quality and efficiency of France's rail service, including the Paris metro, the regional rail lines (RER), and Eurostar (the "Chunnel" to London). The Paris traffic is scary enough (Smart Cars are in vogue), so I can't imagine if all the people who rode the trains were instead on the roads and streets. We were able to get anywhere we wanted to quickly at a reasonable cost. And as a side benefit we got some much needed exercise from walking to the metro stations and up and down the metro entrance steps. It is a national disgrace that the US has let its railroad system deteriorate to its present nadir. The false pretense of uninhhibited "personal freedom" and the car culture of the last 100 years are starting to catch up with us. In my opinion two lanes of every interstate should be converted to a high speed rail corridor ASAP. While that may be a dream (or is it?), I fear it may be too late as much of the rail infrastructure of earlier last century has been removed or built over. Talk of "mass transportation" and "intermodal transportation" (let's not forget bus travel either) in an American context rings hollow. If we don't have the expertise or will power to change things ourselves, then we should recruit the experts from Europe and Japan to help get the job done. With the current decay of the airline industry as well, Americans need a third major alternative in how they choose to travel. The option of affordable and near-universal rail service to the American populace should not have been allowed to disappear in the first place.
Having just returned from a week in Paris, my wife and I were amazed at the quality and efficiency of France's rail service, including the Paris metro, the regional rail lines (RER), and Eurostar (the "Chunnel" to London). The Paris traffic is scary enough (Smart Cars are in vogue), so I can't imagine if all the people who rode the trains were instead on the roads and streets. We were able to get anywhere we wanted to quickly at a reasonable cost. And as a side benefit we got some much needed exercise from walking to the metro stations and up and down the metro entrance steps. It is a national disgrace that the US has let its railroad system deteriorate to its present nadir. The false pretense of uninhhibited "personal freedom" and the car culture of the last 100 years are starting to catch up with us. In my opinion two lanes of every interstate should be converted to a high speed rail corridor ASAP. While that may be a dream (or is it?), I fear it may be too late as much of the rail infrastructure of earlier last century has been removed or built over. Talk of "mass transportation" and "intermodal transportation" (let's not forget bus travel either) in an American context rings hollow. If we don't have the expertise or will power to change things ourselves, then we should recruit the experts from Europe and Japan to help get the job done. With the current decay of the airline industry as well, Americans need a third major alternative in how they choose to travel. The option of affordable and near-universal rail service to the American populace should not have been allowed to disappear in the first place.
Having just returned from a week in Paris, my wife and I were amazed at the quality and efficiency of France's rail service, including the Paris metro, the regional rail lines (RER), and Eurostar (the "Chunnel" to London). The Paris traffic is scary enough (Smart Cars are in vogue), so I can't imagine if all the people who rode the trains were instead on the roads and streets. We were able to get anywhere we wanted to quickly at a reasonable cost. And as a side benefit we got some much needed exercise from walking to the metro stations and up and down the metro entrance steps. It is a national disgrace that the US has let its railroad system deteriorate to its present nadir. The false pretense of uninhhibited "personal freedom" and the car culture of the last 100 years are starting to catch up with us. In my opinion two lanes of every interstate should be converted to a high speed rail corridor ASAP. While that may be a dream (or is it?), I fear it may be too late as much of the rail infrastructure of earlier last century has been removed or built over. Talk of "mass transportation" and "intermodal transportation" (let's not forget bus travel either) in an American context rings hollow. If we don't have the expertise or will power to change things ourselves, then we should recruit the experts from Europe and Japan to help get the job done. With the current decay of the airline industry as well, Americans need a third major alternative in how they choose to travel. The option of affordable and near-universal rail service to the American populace should not have been allowed to disappear in the first place.
France is smaller than Texas. Europe is not the US. Cost/square mile to replicate similar European service density would be staggering. It's comparing apples and oranges to put Paris in the US and extrapolate our needs.