High-Speed Rail On Track

Could we be getting high-speed passenger rail service in America at last?

The federal government is studying possibilities for up to eleven high-speed rail corridors, and key Democrats including Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey have all expressed support for such a program at one time or another. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, appearing to day with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, has stressed that this is just the sort of transportation infrastructure the United States needs to stay competitive.

I can't help but be more than just a bit cynical, because I've seen this all before. Bill Clinton entered the Presidency in 1993 promising a similar project, but we only ended up getting the Acela service for Amtrak. It's a nice, fast train - I've ridden it - but it's no bullet train. Its top speed of 150 miles per hour is less than half of what a French TGV travels at. This time the promise of intercity bullet trans has to be more than just a shiny train set that can go faster than a Metroliner.

Texas tried to establish high-speed rail service, but Southwest Airlines boss Herb Kelleher lobbied the plans out of existence. (It would after all, have cut into the profitable business of selling airline tickets between Dallas and Houston.) Florida hoped to set up a similar service, but plans were canceled by then-Governor Jeb Bush, whose father and older brother, of course, have been oil men. Trains are more energy-efficient than planes or cars; many of them run on electricity generated by less oil than it takes to keep planes going. Ohio canceled a high-speed rail network long ago, but I don't know the what the ulterior motive may have been there. It's time to pick up where all of these grand ideas left off.

Don't expect any of the money from the proposed stimulus package Barack Obama is proposing to help get bullet trains started; many of the transportation projects ready to go involve highways or bridges, and high-speed rail takes forever to plan. California is getting started on such a program, but the first Golden State bullet trains won't start operation for at least twenty years.

At least the government is looking at the idea again. Hopefully, we'll be able to ride in modern high-speed Amtrak trains someday, but if the economy keeps worsening, we may have to settle for hitching rides on box cars. :-O