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The Independent
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Independent
With 160mph trains launching on the East Coast - is America finally on track for a high-speed rail network?
The European Union has 5,316 miles of high-speed rail, China's network exceeds 31,000 miles, while America has a high-speed line mileage of zero. But the high-speed rail revolution may well be underway in the U.S., with some in the industry quietly optimistic that one day the country will have a comprehensive network of high-speed trains. Work has begun on Brightline West, a line costing $12 billion that will run from Las Vegas to an outer suburb of Los Angeles. When it launches in December 2028, it will be the first-ever 186mph train in the States. And California is building a $128 billion, 220mph line that will take passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in under three hours when it begins operations sometime between 2031 and 2033. Rick Harnish, the Executive Director of the High Speed Rail Alliance, stresses to The Independent that there is "no doubt" that Brightline West will be a catalyst for other high-speed projects, the definition of "high speed" generally acknowledged as above 150mph. Rick also points to the imminent launch of Amtrak's 160mph Acela trains as a crucial step in the right direction for high-speed rail in America. These trains, due to debut in the next few weeks, will serve the Northeast Corridor, from Washington, D.C. to Boston via New York. Rick explains that because "it's an old corridor that has slowly been rebuilt, there are different speeds in different places". He continues: "Mostly it's 110mph. But there is one short section near Princeton in New Jersey where they can get to 150mph and a short [150mph] section in Connecticut. "The Northeast Corridor has gotten the most significant funding for passenger rail for decades. We would call that regional rail, but it's important." Features on the new Acela trains include onboard café cars, Wi-Fi, in-seat USB ports and plug sockets, winged headrests that Amtrak says "provide more comfort and separation", and seat covers made out of recycled leather. Plus, there's an interactive reservation system that will allow passengers to change their seats using the Amtrak app. As swish as the new Acela trains will be, Rick believes that it's the high-speed projects on dedicated lines that will help "change the way people travel across the country". One major obstacle is that traveling by road or air is embedded from the top down in America. A cultural and political shift will be needed for a high-speed rail network to flourish. Rick says, "The federal government has forced us to focus on moving cars fast, not on building communities that are healthy, productive, and enjoyable places to live." In a blog post, the High Speed Rail Alliance blames "perverse incentive structures and feedback loops" for America's rail system lagging behind Europe and China's. It said: "The industries that profit from building more congested highways and airports fund political campaigns and think tanks devoted to lobbying legislatures for more highways and airports. "Naturally, policymakers are responsive to the people who fund their campaigns and rationalize their policy priorities." A case in point, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently described a proposed high-speed line between Houston and Dallas as a "waste of taxpayers' money". New York-based author Will Doig — who wrote High-Speed Empire, Chinese Expansion, and the Future of Southeast Asia — agrees with the High Speed Rail Alliance, telling The Independent that "political will and government funding are the prime suspects" behind high-speed rail inertia. But he name-checks other factors, too. He continues: "There are other reasons American infrastructure has stalled. For instance, environmental impact assessments have ironically become a tool that any group can use to delay or kill a project they don't like, even if that project would ultimately have a net-benefit for the environment." Does he think Americans can ever be fully converted to rail travel? Will replies: "We know that people will take the train if the infrastructure makes it worth it. We know this because they already do: train travel is commonplace in the Northeast, where rail is often the fastest and most convenient option. "But in most other parts of the U.S, rail is a third-rate option, plagued by delays and slow trains. "Asking Americans to choose that option over flying or driving is unrealistic. "We shouldn't be asking whether Americans will ever convert to train travel, we should be asking whether America will ever provide railways worth converting to. When things work well, people use them."
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Is the US finally on track to build a high-speed rail network?
The US is a country of 340 million people, 71 interstate highways, more than 5,000 public airports, and currently no high-speed railways. Yet with two high-speed rail (HSR) projects now under construction, and others planned, is the US finally on track to start catching up with the fast trains seen in China, Japan and Europe? Rick Harnish, of US campaign group High Speed Rail Alliance, says it is at least good to see the first two schemes being built. "The first is the San Francisco to Los Angeles route," he explains. "That's an incredibly challenging route to build because of the mountains in California. "Then there's Las Vegas to Los Angeles, a relatively easy project to build, as it is flat land." In addition, there are plans for a HSR line from Portland in Oregon to Seattle in Washington State, and onto Vancouver in Canada. And another between Dallas and Houston. Yet Mr Harnish warns that planning efforts for the former are "moving slowly", while the Texas line is now more doubtful after President Trump's government cancelled a $63.9m (£48m) grant. By marked contrast, the total length of China's HSR network will reportedly exceed 50,000 km (31,000 miles) this year. Meanwhile, the European Union has 8,556 km of HSR lines, led by Spain's 3,190 km. In the UK, the only current HSR line is High Speed 1, the 68 miles link between the Channel Tunnel and London St Pancreas. But High Speed 2 continues to be constructed from London Euston to Birmingham, despite well-publicised funding issues. While there is no universally agreed definition on what constitutes HSR, global railways trade group International Union of Railways says that trains generally need to be moving at more than 250 km/h (155 mph). So why does US lag behind Europe and especially China? "We're a very car-addicted nation," says American rail industry journalist and author Will Doig. "There's lots of people who just don't think we need it, or don't really want it coming through their area. "And the US government has really shown a willingness to shut down investment in a lot of projects, especially rail." Further complicating the situation in the US is that the boss of the government-owned passenger train service Amtrak, Stephen Gardner, resigned last month. It was widely reported that he stood down after pressure from the White House. Amtrak currently does not operate any HSR trains. Later this year it is due to enter 28 new 160mph NextGen Acela trains into service on its Northeast Corridor route between Boston and Washington DC. However, only around 50 miles of the 457-mile line can presently allow trains to travel at more than 150mph. Amtrak is not involved in the high-speed lines being built in California and Nevada. The LA to San Francisco project, called California High-Speed Rail, is being led by the state of California, and due to be completed by 2033. The line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Brightline West, is a privately-run project. It is expected to open in 2028. Globally, there are 23 nations with HSR, according to Mr Harnish. His non-profit organisation has the sole mission of bringing it to the US. Allowing HSR trains to run safely is far from straightforward, he adds. "You can't have any crossings with highways, it needs to be very straight and a sealed corridor." In China the country is still building more and more HSR lines, with the total distance expected to reach around 60,000km by 2030. Chinese cities that get HSR links see their economies increase by 14.2%, according to data from Denmark-based think tank 21st Europe. Chinese firms are also helping to build HSR systems in other Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Will Doig, who wrote a book called High-Speed Empire, Chinese Expansion, and the Future of Southeast Asia, says that China is not just interested in helping its neighbours improve their rail networks. "It is a way of China spreading its influence across a region that it felt was geopolitically strategic," he says. "In some of these cases, countries have taken out loans from China so that China can then build the railways." He warns that this may put them "in a position where they're beholden to China". Europe's growing HSR network is testament to the continent's history of investing in its public infrastructure, says Kaave Pour from 21st Europe. His think tank is now calling for further expansion of HSR, so that it connects most capitals and main cities in the EU, and those in the UK. Mr Pour says that if the US wants to develop HSR it needs to start with a cultural shift, a move towards more public transport, and asking itself "what type of future does it want?". Mr Harnish from the High Speed Rail Alliance says that in order for HSR to work in the US, "the federal government is an essential component". Yet as already flagged, the White House has pulled the plug on giving the planned high-speed line between Houston and Dallas a federal grant. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the project as a "waste of taxpayers' money". Scott Sherin is an executive at French train manufacturer Alstom. His firm is suppling Amtrak's new high-speed trains, but he questions whether the US has the political will "to spend the public purse on rail versus other modes of transportation". He also notes that any future HSR lines would struggle to get into city centres such as Dallas and Houston, because there are too many buildings. "The issue is that the cities are so densely built [in their centres]". Will Doig says that going forward he would love to see China helping to build more HSR in the US, but that he is not holding his breath. "It's politically very difficult," he says. "Which is too bad because without the animosity between the US and China, you could see how a partnership between them could really create great things for America, that America is not so good at building itself."
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Is the US finally on track to build a high-speed rail network?
The US is a country of 340 million people, 71 interstate highways, more than 5,000 public airports, and currently no high-speed with two high-speed rail (HSR) projects now under construction, and others planned, is the US finally on track to start catching up with the fast trains seen in China, Japan and Europe?Rick Harnish, of US campaign group High Speed Rail Alliance, says it is at least good to see the first two schemes being built."The first is the San Francisco to Los Angeles route," he explains. "That's an incredibly challenging route to build because of the mountains in California."Then there's Las Vegas to Los Angeles, a relatively easy project to build, as it is flat land."In addition, there are plans for a HSR line from Portland in Oregon to Seattle in Washington State, and onto Vancouver in Canada. And another between Dallas and Mr Harnish warns that planning efforts for the former are "moving slowly", while the Texas line is now more doubtful after President Trump's government cancelled a $63.9m (£48m) grant. By marked contrast, the total length of China's HSR network will reportedly exceed 50,000 km (31,000 miles) this the European Union has 8,556 km of HSR lines, led by Spain's 3,190 the UK, the only current HSR line is High Speed 1, the 68 miles link between the Channel Tunnel and London St Pancreas. But High Speed 2 continues to be constructed from London Euston to Birmingham, despite well-publicised funding there is no universally agreed definition on what constitutes HSR, global railways trade group International Union of Railways says that trains generally need to be moving at more than 250 km/h (155 mph).So why does US lag behind Europe and especially China?"We're a very car-addicted nation," says American rail industry journalist and author Will Doig. "There's lots of people who just don't think we need it, or don't really want it coming through their area."And the US government has really shown a willingness to shut down investment in a lot of projects, especially rail." Further complicating the situation in the US is that the boss of the government-owned passenger train service Amtrak, Stephen Gardner, resigned last month. It was widely reported that he stood down after pressure from the White currently does not operate any HSR trains. Later this year it is due to enter 28 new 160mph NextGen Acela trains into service on its Northeast Corridor route between Boston and Washington DC. However, only around 50 miles of the 457-mile line can presently allow trains to travel at more than is not involved in the high-speed lines being built in California and Nevada. The LA to San Francisco project, called California High-Speed Rail, is being led by the state of California, and due to be completed by line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Brightline West, is a privately-run project. It is expected to open in 2028. Globally, there are 23 nations with HSR, according to Mr Harnish. His non-profit organisation has the sole mission of bringing it to the HSR trains to run safely is far from straightforward, he adds. "You can't have any crossings with highways, it needs to be very straight and a sealed corridor."In China the country is still building more and more HSR lines, with the total distance expected to reach around 60,000km by cities that get HSR links see their economies increase by 14.2%, according to data from Denmark-based think tank 21st firms are also helping to build HSR systems in other Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Doig, who wrote a book called High-Speed Empire, Chinese Expansion, and the Future of Southeast Asia, says that China is not just interested in helping its neighbours improve their rail networks."It is a way of China spreading its influence across a region that it felt was geopolitically strategic," he says."In some of these cases, countries have taken out loans from China so that China can then build the railways." He warns that this may put them "in a position where they're beholden to China". Europe's growing HSR network is testament to the continent's history of investing in its public infrastructure, says Kaave Pour from 21st think tank is now calling for further expansion of HSR, so that it connects most capitals and main cities in the EU, and those in the Pour says that if the US wants to develop HSR it needs to start with a cultural shift, a move towards more public transport, and asking itself "what type of future does it want?".Mr Harnish from the High Speed Rail Alliance says that in order for HSR to work in the US, "the federal government is an essential component".Yet as already flagged, the White House has pulled the plug on giving the planned high-speed line between Houston and Dallas a federal grant. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the project as a "waste of taxpayers' money". Scott Sherin is an executive at French train manufacturer Alstom. His firm is suppling Amtrak's new high-speed trains, but he questions whether the US has the political will "to spend the public purse on rail versus other modes of transportation".He also notes that any future HSR lines would struggle to get into city centres such as Dallas and Houston, because there are too many buildings. "The issue is that the cities are so densely built [in their centres]".Will Doig says that going forward he would love to see China helping to build more HSR in the US, but that he is not holding his breath."It's politically very difficult," he says. "Which is too bad because without the animosity between the US and China, you could see how a partnership between them could really create great things for America, that America is not so good at building itself."
New York Times
01-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The Slow Journey to High-Speed Rail in America
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law — the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act — that seemed to pave the way for a national high-speed rail system in the United States. 'An astronaut can orbit the earth faster than a man on the ground can get from New York to Washington,' he lamented at the time. Sixty years later, it still takes about three hours to travel between the two cities — a period about twice as long as a single orbit of the International Space Station. High-speed rail in the United States is still years away. But projects across the country, from Washington State to Texas, suggest a growing enthusiasm for faster train service. These efforts are relatively modest in size, proposing to connect two or three cities at a time. But that may be precisely what makes them feasible. Under the Trump administration, high-speed rail is unlikely to receive additional support from the federal government. 'There should be a federal program,' said Rick Harnish, executive director of the High Speed Rail Alliance. 'But in the current circumstances, states need to do what they can on their own.' High-speed rail 101 Andy Kunz, president of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, estimates that only about two dozen countries across the world now have high-speed rail, which he said typically refers to train systems that go at least 186 miles an hour. Almost all of them are in Western Europe or East Asia. The only high-speed rail in Africa is the Al-Boraq in Morocco. There is no high-speed rail in the Americas yet. Ordinary tracks cannot simply be repurposed for high-speed rail, Mr. Kunz explained. The speeds involved require a 'sealed corridor' with grade separation — features like overpasses and underpasses that prevent cars and pedestrians from having to cross in front of a bullet train. A high-speed train can't nimbly wend its way through the landscape — it needs long straightaways, gradual slopes and gentle turns. The fastest trains in the U.S. right now Right now, the Amtrak Acela train is the fastest rail line in the United States, reaching speeds of 150 miles per hour. Amtrak is preparing to roll out updated NextGen Acela trains along the Northeast Corridor sometime this year. But the new trains' top speed will be only 160 miles per hour. Even if Amtrak spends billions on upgrades, Acela will never really be in the high-speed game. That is partly because Acela travels on ancient tracks that pass through dense population centers crowded with other infrastructure. Old bridges and tunnels create choke points. Freight and commuter lines jostle for access. 'Amtrak is building a rail system for the 1890s,' said Representative Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts. Brightline — the private rail line now running between Orlando and Miami — is the next-fastest line after Acela, topping out at 125 miles per hour. Because it lacks grade separation, accidents have plagued the line. But as Michael Kimmelman notes, Brightline has become a popular option for many Floridians and tourists. Pending rail projects In 2024, an offshoot of the company that built the Orlando-Miami train line broke ground on Brightline West, a 186-mile-per-hour train that will link Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The line, which is expected to cover 218 miles, will be built on a strip of land between the north- and southbound lanes of the I-15, so it does not have to go through the costly process of negotiating rights of way with private landowners. Environmental reviews are over and done with, and passenger service is expected to begin in late 2028. 'This one is super easy to build, because it's a wide open desert,' Mr. Kunz explained. 'It's flat,' and few people live in the harsh desert region through which the train will pass. Read more in Michael Kimmelman's story about Brightline. 'California is the first place in our nation where we will see a true high-speed rail system,' Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor of the state, vowed in 2009. The initial phase of the project, connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles at 220 miles per hour, was supposed to have opened in 2020, and go all the way from Sacramento to San Diego by 2027. But the troubled project is still many years from completion. For now, the state is focused on a 171-mile trunk through the Central Valley. And though California received $4 billion during the Biden administration, there remains a sizeable shortfall in funding. At a recent press conference, Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican congressman from California, described California's high-speed rail as 'the worst public infrastructure failure in U.S. history.' Tom Richards, chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said that three challenges had proved persistent: the need to acquire rights of way through private property, the astonishing cost of moving various public utilities and the expense involved in passing environmental reviews. But bullet train boosters say challenges have been exaggerated. 'Everyone loves to rip on it in the press, but the project is about one-tenth as bad as they try to make it sound,' Mr. Kunz said. 'When that thing actually gets up and running, it's going to radically change transportation.' In the Pacific Northwest, Microsoft has partly funded the planning for Cascadia, a high-speed rail line that would connect Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Vancouver, in British Columbia, at 250 miles per hour. The Federal Railroad Administration has also contributed $49.7 million. 'They're really organized,' Mr. Kunz said. But engineers have not decided on a route yet, and planning could take another five years. Bob Johnston, who has covered passenger rail for decades for the magazine Trains, believes that because the Pacific Northwest is already so congested with infrastructure, it may make more sense to improve service on existing Amtrak lines than to build out a whole new system. 'They have the will, it's just going to be an uphill battle to execute,' Mr. Johnston said of Cascadia's backers. In the early 1990s, a company called Texas TGV proposed a high-speed network for the state, only to see its funding fall apart. About a decade ago, Texas Central partly revived that plan with a proposed Houston-Dallas line. 'Then the pandemic hit and everything kind of collapsed — they basically shut down,' Mr. Johnston said. But he believes that the route has many of the same advantages as Brightline West, calling the area the line would traverse 'one of the most perfect places where high-speed rail could really work.' Having evidently come to the same conclusion, Amtrak took charge in 2023. Last year, the project received a $64 million federal grant, and Amtrak is now looking for private companies to choreograph the complex dynamics of turning the projected 240-mile rail line into reality. The dream of a national system The dream of a national high-speed rail line is being kept alive by legislators like Mr. Moulton, the representative from Massachusetts. Since 2020, Mr. Moulton has been pitching a $205 billion federally funded high-speed rail system that would connect the entire country. In an interview, Mr. Moulton argued that connecting two large cities with high-speed rail would also foster better connection among surrounding smaller cities. 'If you built high speed rail between Chicago and Boston, it would not only be great for Chicago and Boston, it would be absolutely transformative for Cleveland, for Buffalo, for Syracuse, for South Bend, for Albany,' Mr. Moulton said. 'All of a sudden, they're accessible to these great economies.' He suggested that by compressing enormous distances, high-speed rail could perform the important work of 'truly knitting the country back together.' When it comes to transit and mobility, what project is changing your community?
