All Aboard the New American Rail

With the announcement of $8 billion in grants for 13 new high-speed rail routes, Obama puts the US on track to great transport.

It is about time someone paid attention to passenger trains in America.

As Presidend Obama announced during the State of the Union address the other night that his administration will be disbursing $8 billion in stimulus grants for the development of high-speed rail in 31 states, starting in California, Illinois and Florida. The plan? To create America's first nationwide intercity network of passenger rail service, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Anyone who's ever taken rail in Europe can tell you that the availability of high-speed trains between cities makes it vastly easier and more enjoyable to travel from place to place. While distances between cities in this country make Europe look miniature, we have plenty of places that could benefit from a high-speed rail link. Think about the Bos-Wash corridor up the East Coast or the stretch between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. While Amtrak can drag you along these routes, the trip is slow and the cost is remarkable — often twice the cost of flying to the same destination.

Our stunted passenger rail system is the result of many factors, but a major one is the fact that throughout most of the country our passenger trains run on tracks controlled by freight operators. (Craig Canine provides an excellent analysis of how the system works in OnEarth magazine.) Passenger trains take these rails when they can get permission, and only at speeds that the track can accommodate. "To really make a system work, the US needs to build dedicated high-speed tracks," wrote Dan Wolman in Wired several years ago.

From early information it seems that laying dedicated track will be part of the plan for the 13 new high-speed rail corridors that these grants will help construct. According to the LA Times, officials emphasize that the investment will provide "well-paying jobs in track-laying," among many other things. At least 30 foreign and domestic rail manufacturers have agreed to establish themselves in the US or expand their US presences if they are tapped to work on these projects. That means a lot of new rail for a lot of new really speedy trains.

I, for one, have my suitcase ready.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng