USA unveil $53 billion high speed rail investments

American high speed rail supporters, rejoice ! To Ecogeek : ” Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Obama administration is investing $53 billion in high speed rail development over the next six years.”

Yes, you read it right : President Obama is really willing to invest nearly 40 billion euros in high speed rail to enable 80 percent of Americans to have access to this great alternative to both private cars and planes.

As a long time supporter of public transportation, I am absolutely thrilled by this announcement. This should enable the country to start catching up with European countries, Japan and China

As Treehugger notes on President Obama’s plans :

This is big news — and it reaffirms Obama’s commitment to building the nation’s infrastructure in the most sustainable way possible. And simply the fact that the VP used the language “on equal footing with other surface transportation programs” regarding rail is extremely encouraging. Here’s a closer look at the three kinds of corridors the blueprint will create or improve:

Core Express: These corridors will form the backbone of the national high-speed rail system, with electrified trains traveling on dedicated tracks at speeds of 125-250 mph or higher.
Regional: Crucial regional corridors with train speeds of 90-125 mph will see increases in trips and reductions in travel times, laying the foundation for future high-speed service.
Emerging: Trains traveling at up to 90 mph will provide travelers in emerging rail corridors with access to the larger national high-speed and intercity passenger rail network.

Two years ago I was writing about something very similar as the US High Speed Rail Network advocated the building of 17,000 miles (27,000 km) of high speed rail which would enable trains to go as fast as 220 mph (355 kmph).

In any case, President Obama project would would enable his country  tohave a similar network to its European counterpart. A bright prospect that deserves all our support.

2 thoughts on “USA unveil $53 billion high speed rail investments”

  1. in the event of a run-away budget crisis, on top of the ongoing lopsided tax structure and unemployment stress, the president of the US has to work very hard to convince the congress to allocate funds..
    promises and projects have been upset by military and healthcare problems.
    people must maintain the drive toward healthier alternatives to the aging infrastructure..
    it may not bring bus service to small town america, but it could employ a lot of angry men and feed so many children, rail is the future for this vast expanse of land.

  2. Thanks Nadine for your commet ! 🙂

    As much as I support cutting the Defense budget (eh, I am French ^^) I don’t think cutting the Healthcare budget is a sound idea.

    Back to the topic, I took the train this weekend. Went to as fast as 270 kmph (170 mph) it’s expensive, but boy is it convenient. 😛

    Between Dijon and Paris in 90 minutes instead of more than three hours, that’s the only way to travel to me 😉

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