Why the U.S. should invest more in high-speed rail?
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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Further, HSR miles generate few positive externalities for other industries. Rail currently provides low-cost long-distance transportation for heavy freight, which HSR is unlikely to do given its higher costs and the track damage caused by heavy trains.
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.
High-Speed Trains Provide Environmental, Social Benefits, Study Says. Bullet trains fuel real-estate booms, improve quality of life, reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, and provide a “safety valve” for crowded cities, especially in the developing world, according to a study by Chinese and U.S. economists.
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.
Social BenefitsIn 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.
High-speed rail lines are proposed for California, Nevada, Texas, Georgia and the Pacific Northwest, and already under construction in California's Central Valley.
In a world becoming ever more urbanised, rail travel is well matched to urban needs. High-speed rail can serve as an alternative to short-distance air travel, and conventional and freight rail can complement other transport modes to provide efficient mobility.
Between 1949 and 2017, the federal government invested only $10 billion in high-speed rail with $4 billion of that dedicated to the California project, compared to investments of $777 billion in aviation and over $2 trillion in highways. The federal government can't expect transformative results with piecemeal funding.
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!
In 2008, California voted yes to build the nation's first high-speed railway. The plan is to build an electric train that will connect Los Angeles and San Francisco in two hours and forty minutes. But 15 years later, there is not a single mile of track laid, and there isn't enough money to finish the project.
lowers transport costsCommuting and traveling by high speed train is far cheaper than transport by car or airplane due to the extreme efficiency, and high capacity of high speed rail. With HSR as an option, families can own less cars, saving even more money.
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.
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.
High-Speed Rail Helps Reduce Carbon EmissionsIn the United States, transportation currently generates 29% of carbon emissions – a driving force in climate change. No other mode of travel has the flexibility to serve diverse, dispersed markets and spur a massive shift from driving.