The red states of in the heart of Dixie (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia) have been designated a federal high speed rail line to be known as the Gulf Coast Corridor. In this Republican heartland, home to the most anti-high speed rail politicians in the country, this line must be seen as “If they can do it here, they can do it anywhere” corridor.

The political class representing these southern states is extremely resistant to high speed rail, but has not produced any sound reasons for it besides the generic argument about cost. Louisiana Governor and former Republican rising star Bobby Jindal was questioned on his thoughts about high speed rail a few months back. Asked for comment about his stance on the federal rail money from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the governor’s Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell said he does not think the Las Vegas to Anaheim line is a good use of taxpayer money. He did not address the Louisiana proposal.

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Right around the same time an indie band from Seattle named Nirvana burst onto the national music scene with a song called “Smells like teen spirit”, the Pacific Northwest was designating a high speed train line from Eugene through Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, ending in Vancouver. Seattle has seen the rise of its music scene, Starbucks proliferate as a worldwide brand and the creation of Bill Gates’ mega-mansion, but it has not seen the development of high speed rail.

Since 1992 there have been plans for an international high speed train line between the US and Canada, but after seventeen years no such line has entered into service. The Pacific Northwest has a good culture of public transportation and seems to be one of the more receptive areas of the country when it comes to improving mass transit. Portland Oregon stands out as having one of the best light rail and bus fleets in the country. Despite this, progress has been painfully slow.

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Of all the lines in the envisioned US high speed rail network, California is the one with the most momentum behind it. The state has started to fund the line that is designed to take passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours. Money is the biggest obstacle to realizing America’s rail modernization, but California is countering this problem by showing the value added these trains will bring to the state.

Concerns over cost is the principle argument against high speed rail in the US, but independent economic studies done on the feasibility of the project show that the line will generate $1 billion in surplus revenue annually after completion. Start-up costs for this infrastructure in the nation’s most populous state are estimated to be roughly half of what it would cost not to build the route. Highway and airport expansion would be much more costly and detrimental to the environment. These facts are pushing California to have the nation’s first true high speed rail at the current pace of development.

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A new series of posts on this blog will feature the state of US high speed rail, covering the condition and plans for realizing the new American passenger rail network. A good place to start is with the fastest passenger train currently in service – the Northeast Corridor.

Most of this line is serviced by Amtrak’s Acela express which has the potential to reach 150 mph, but rarely does due to technological limitations concerning the track and the overhead electrical system used to power the train. The average speed of the Acela is a mere 86 mph.

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Energy efficiency in transportation is now in the national spotlight. Washington is  acknowledging an “energy crisis,” and as part of a solution to this problem, passenger rail in the United States is set for an upgrade. With the inauguration of President Obama, new impetus has been given to constructing a nationwide high speed rail network intended to accelerate US ground travel to speeds upwards of 220 mph. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, eleven corridors have been earmarked for construction: (more…)

Coming into its own as a clean tech superpower, California is barreling full-speed ahead with sustainable mobility in spite of federal static and U.S. automakers’ morass.

The same day analysts worried Detroit’s Big Three might bail on cleaner cars without a bailout of their own, the Golden State celebrated a sweeping climate action plan to lower greenhouse gases and meet its self-appointed goal to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

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