Florida Will Build Nation’s First High-Speed Rail Corridor
October 19th, 2010 by 
As the Obama Administration pushes for high-speed rail networks across the country, Germany’s Siemens has secured a place for its Valero ICE trains in the Sunshine State.
Earlier this month, Siemens presented its vision of U.S. high-speed rail to the people of Florida with the “Future of Florida High-Speed Rail Tour,” a traveling exhibit featuring a full-sized model of the Velaro high-speed train.
Apparently, the strategy worked, as Florida recently announced that it would make transportation history as the first state to build a high-speed rail corridor, with trains connecting Tampa to Orlando and then to Miami in a second phase.
We want to give Floridians a taste of what a true high-speed rail train looks and feels like,” added Oliver Hauck, president of Siemens Mobility in the U.S. “Siemens Velaro trains are successfully running on some of the fastest and most important routes in the world today.”
In April, President Barack Obama surprised many mass transit supporters when he endorsed a $10 billion investment in high-speed rail in the stimulus package, outlining 13 possible high-speed rail corridors throughout the United States, from Florida to California.
Later in the summer, the U.S. Department of Transportation delivered $80 million in grants for high-speed rail projects to several U.S. states, including California, Wisconsin, New York and New Mexico. Florida scooped up the bulk of that money however, pocketing a cool $66,600,000.
The Velaro can travel up to 250 miles per hour (403 kilometers/hour) and currently operates at high-speeds in Germany, Spain, China, Russia, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. In 2006, a Velaro E trainset operated by Spain’s national rail authority, RENFE, set a world record for fastest unmodified commercial rail travel.
Article by Beth Buczynski, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.
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Tags:  Department of Transportation Florida High Speed Rail mass transit Siemens stimulus Velaro | [ Permalink ] |
[...] Florida Will Build Nation’s First High-Speed Rail Corridor [...]
Is the Proposed Trans Global Highway a solution for future population concerns and global warming?
One excellent solution to future population concerns as well as alleviating many of the effects of potential global warming is the Frank Didik proposal for the construction of the “Trans Global Highway”. The Didik proposed Trans Global Highway would create a world wide network of standardized roads, railroads, water pipe lines, oil and gas pipelines, electrical and communication cables. The result of this remarkable, far sighted project will be global unity through far better distribution of resources, including heretofore difficult to obtain or unaccessible raw materials, fresh water, finished products and lower global transportation costs.
With greatly expanded global fresh water distribution, arid lands could be cultivated resulting in a huge abundance of global food supplies. The most conservative estimate is that with the construction of the Trans Global Highway, the planet will be able to feed several billion more people, using presently available modern farming technologies. With the present global population of just under 7 billion people and at the United Nations projection of population increase, the world will produce enough food surpluses to feed the expected increased population for several hundred years.
Thomas Robert Malthus’s famous dire food shortage predictions of 1798 and his subsequent books, over the next 30 years, failed to take into consideration modern advances in farming, transportation, food storage and food abundance. Further information on the proposed Trans Global Highway can be found at http://www.TransGlobalHighway.com .