Why shouldn t the US invest in high speed rail?

The US is a big country. Bullet trains go an average of about 350mph whereas your standard commercial airplane goes 550–560mph. High speed rail isn't competitive or fast enough as the existing airplanes to take you from NY to LA and airfare is relatively cheap that the average person can generally afford the flight.



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High-speed rail is generally regarded as the pinnacle of attractive and green transportation. But all too often, it makes train travel more expensive and less flexible. In the end, costly high-speed lines may just push more people into cars.

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Implementing high-speed rail (HSR) will provide Americans with more transportation choices. It will also make sure that America remains an economic engine, and meets the environmental and energy challenges of this century.

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The interstate highway system cost $129 billion — roughly $290 billion in current dollars — and took 35 years to complete, running from 1957 to 1992. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill enacted in 2021 has $102 billion for rail, but none of the money is set aside for high-speed rail.

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This investment has spurred economic benefits around California and across the country. Investment in high-speed rail is supporting jobs, labor income and economic output across a number of California's regions, including some of those hardest hit by the Great Recession.

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This paper highlights that HSR can help achieve accessibility of rural area and poverty alleviation simultaneously. An understanding of the effect is critical for policymakers to promote intra-regional development, balancing efficiency and regional equality.

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Building high-speed rail systems require steel and concrete, the manufacturing of which typically generates greenhouse gases. Trucks, bulldozers, and other construction site equipment also consume energy. Thus, during their long construction phases, high-speed rail projects add greenhouse gases.

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High Speed Rail is the world's safest form of transportation proven by decades of operations all around the world. Japan was the first nation to build high speed rail in 1964, and has since transported 10 billion passengers without a single injury or fatality!

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Reduces the Nation's Dependence on Foreign Oil: According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use. It will also decrease greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.

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California's plan to link Los Angeles to San Francisco by high-speed rail is expected to cost $68 billion. Critics argue that such services cannot survive without public subsidies and that the United States has few of the dense urban areas that have made such train services successful in places like France and Japan.

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Thus, during their long construction phases, high-speed rail projects add greenhouse gases. Adding lanes to existing highways also generates greenhouse gases, but to the extent that recycled asphalt is used for road paving climate impacts can be somewhat reduced.

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Empirical results suggest that the newly launched HSR services have induced industrial gentrification in the developed station area. Except for the displacement of agricultural production activities, HSR-induced industrial gentrification has not yet been manifested in the newly developed station area.

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HSR services raise the land prices in these areas. Increased accessibility and land prices can result in the displacement of lower-rent-affordability activities by higher-rent-affordability activities, also known as “gentrification.”

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The results of a national survey that show that nearly two-thirds of Americans are interested in traveling by high-speed rail and the figure soars to 74 percent among those in the 18-24 age brackets.

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Social Benefits In addition to sprawl, a large country like the United States often has vast distances between populated areas. High-speed rail reduces the travelling distance between far flung suburbs and center cities. High-speed rail can also help to ease congestion of urban areas with mega-large populations.

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That works out to $200 million a mile for hilly areas. At these costs, Obama's original high-?speed rail plan would require well over $1 trillion, while the USHSR's plan would need well over $3 trillion. Building a system longer than China's would cost at least $4 trillion.

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Eurostar estimates that a one-way train trip emits around 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of CO2 per passenger, making it a much more sustainable choice compared to flying.

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The International Council on Clean Transportation identified that short-haul flights between dense urban centers comprise a quarter of domestic US air travel. For these flights segments, electric high-speed rail could reduce emissions (compared to air travel) by 23%. Downtown Limburg, Germany.

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Proposed “high speed” rail projects have the potential to reduce transportation costs, cut oil use, relieve highway and air traffic congestion, enhance other forms of public transportation, increase land values, and spur economic development in large and small communities.

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