September 19-25th is the EPA’s Pollution Prevention Week, a time to consider the impact of daily habits and commit to making them a little more green.

Humans are constantly on the move. Unlike societies past, we’ve invented numerous ways to zoom from place to place. Trips that used to take days or even weeks are now accomplished in a matter of hours. The only problem is that most planes, trains, and automobiles require fossil fuels to run their combustion engines. And that means transportation creates a lot of pollution in our atmosphere.

The good news is, it’s easier than ever to travel green, reducing your personal contribution to global carbon emissions (and saving some money while you’re at it!)

1. Vehicle Maintenance and Driving Habits

Did you know that just keeping up with regular vehicle maintenance can help your car or truck achieve maximum efficiency?

* Getting regular oil changes and using the manufacturer’s recommended grade of motor oil can improve your gas mileage by 1-2 percent.
* Keeping tires properly inflated and wheels aligned reduces tire drag on the road. Gas mileage drops 1 percent for every pound of air below the recommended tire pressure.
* Replacing a clogged air filter can improve your car’s gas mileage by as much as 10 percent.
* Drive the speed limit; avoid high speeds. You can improve your gas mileage about 15 percent by driving at 55 mph rather than 65 mph.

2. Public Transportation

When available, utilizing public transit systems like high-speed rail and buses is a great way to drastically reduce transportation pollution while also helping to support local infrastructure. By leaving your car at home just two days a week, you can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds per year.

In areas where public transportation options are limited or unavailable, consider bike sharing, walking, car pooling or using a car sharing service to help get you where you’re going without the high cost of maintaining a personal car.

3. Change Your Car

If it’s not possible for you to go carless, think about changing the type of car you drive. Hybrid vehicles are quite common and dropping rapidly in price. These cars combine an electric battery with a combustion engine to help save gas and limit emissions.

If you’re ready to take the plunge, and all-electric vehicle like the Nissan LEAF or Chevy Volt make it possible to drive without creating any pollution at all. However, it’s important to keep in mind that if your electricity comes from a coal-fired or nuclear power plant, there are still some emissions associated with driving an electric car…but it’s a vast improvement to gasoline!

Do you have other tips for greening up your transportation routine?

Article by Beth Buczynski, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.

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A European high-speed rail network has begun generating electricity from 16,000 solar panels installed atop a two-mile rail tunnel on the line running from Paris to Amsterdam.

The panels, built by the Belgian renewable energy company Enfinity, will provide about 50 percent of the power needed for a nearby station in Antwerp and will also produce electricity equivalent to that needed to power all the trains in Belgium for one day per year.

The tunnel was originally built to protect the high-speed rail line from trees falling from an adjacent old-growth forest.

“For train operators, it is the perfect way to cut their carbon footprints because you can use spaces that have no other economic value and the projects can be delivered within a year because they don’t attract the protests that wind power does,” Bart Van Renterghem of Enfinity told the Guardian.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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This is a big day for the Department of Transportation, for the Obama Administration, and for the American people.  We are bringing President Obama's vision of American high-speed rail one step closer to reality with $2.02 billion in targeted investments.

And I am thrilled.

Today we are advancing President Obama's historic high-speed rail blueprint through 22 carefully selected projects that will create jobs, boost manufacturing, and spur development while laying the foundation for our future economic competitiveness. We are providing two billion dollars to 15 states and Amtrak to help build out America's high-speed rail network, enabling people and goods to travel more quickly, safely and energy-efficiently than ever before.

When DOT announced the competition for these awards in March, we were inundated with 98 applications seeking more than $10 billion.  Americans heard the President's plan to connect 80 percent of the nation to high-speed rail in the next 25 years, and they responded with a loud and clear, "Yes!"

And it’s no wonder. High-speed rail offers significant economic and practical benefits for the states and regions that build these lines and the passengers who ride them.

Already, high-speed rail upgrades are employing workers laying 96 miles of track on the Chicago-St. Louis run. Workers in Maine are also laying track–welded in America–between Boston and Portland. And in Sacramento and San Jose, construction workers are building intermodal stations that will be home to California’s high-speed corridor.

A strict “Buy America” requirement for high-speed rail projects ensures that U.S. manufacturers and their workers will receive the maximum economic benefits from our investment. In 2009, I also secured a commitment from 30 foreign and domestic rail manufacturers to employ American workers and locate or expand their base of operations in the U.S. if they are selected for high-speed-rail contracts.

There are other early signs of high-speed rail’s economic promise: In Brunswick, Maine, private investment has already gravitated toward the Brunswick Station neighborhood. Economic development there includes a number of businesses, residential condominiums, a new hotel, and a modern medical center. And along every planned corridor, cities and towns are clamoring for intermodal rail stations because they know it will boost development in their communities.

High-speed rail service will also help us move goods and people more efficiently. By 2050, the United States will be home to 100 million additional people. That’s the equivalent of adding another California, Texas, New York, and Florida combined. Our transportation networks simply cannot accommodate that kind of growth, and if we settle for the status quo, our children and grandchildren will remain dependent on foreign oil and continue to suffer from ever-higher gas prices.

High-speed rail can and should complement other forms of transportation to loosen bottlenecks and free up the freight capacity needed to keep our economy firing on all cylinders.

Across the U.S., 32 states and the District of Columbia are already preparing for high-speed rail corridors to link Americans with faster and more energy-efficient travel options. And the dedicated rail grants we’re announcing today will:

* Make an unprecedented investment in the Northeast Corridor, enabling trains to reach speeds between 135 and 160 mph;
* Expand high-speed rail service in the Midwest, creating 1000 jobs in the construction phase alone building the Chicago-Detroit line;
* Boost U.S. manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art locomotives and rail cars for California and the Midwest; and
* Continue laying the groundwork for the nation’s first 220-mph high-speed rail system in California.

For a complete list of projects and their awards, please visit www.dot.gov.

If I sound excited about the prospect of American high-speed rail, it’s because I am. High-speed intercity passenger rail offers real, practical benefits–benefits we cannot afford to ignore. Jobs, manufacturing, economic development, reduced dependence on foreign oil, and a future economy that can truly serve our population–today’s awards bring those benefits one step closer.

Article by Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation.

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Since the Department of Transportation announced the availability of an additional $2.4 billion for high-speed rail projects last month, governors and members of Congress from both major parties have been clamoring for the opportunity to participate.

As of our Monday deadline, we received more than 90 applications from 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak.  The preliminary total of those requests is nearly $10 billion, more than four times what we have available. 

Why is demand for high-speed rail support so high?

Because elected officials have seen the immediate benefits of jobs where rail work has already begun.  They've seen these jobs in Maine–where the Downeaster extension to Brunswick is under construction–and they've seen them in Illinois–where 96 miles of track are now being laid for the Chicago-St. Louis high-speed corridor. 

Demand is high because these leaders–Democrats and Republicans–have also seen the expanded manufacturing activity in Indiana, where the workers of Steel Dynamics are forging track. They know that 30 other manufacturers and suppliers have agreed to build or expand operations in the U.S. should they participate in high-speed rail projects. They know that our Buy America requirements ensure they’ll be using American-made supplies and materials, so U.S. companies, workers, and communities will receive the maximum economic benefit of our high-speed rail investment.

And demand is high because they can’t ignore the economic development that rail corridors deliver. They’ve heard about the success of Brunswick Station, where private investment has already helped generate a number of businesses, condominiums, a new hotel, and a modern medical center. They’ve heard about the 240 acres under redevelopment near the Sacramento Intermodal Transportation Facility, and the transit-oriented land-use planning that centers on San Jose’s Diridon Station. They’ve heard about towns seeking high-speed rail stops so businesses will plant roots, confident that they have access to a 21st century transportation option that helps them compete in the global economy.

From Maine to the Midwest to California, construction has begun on America’s high-speed rail facilities, and we can’t afford to see this train turn back.

By 2050, our population is expected to grow by another 100 million people. That’s nearly a third more than we have now–roughly the equivalent of adding another California, New York, Texas, and Florida. And those people will need to get to jobs, schools, grocery stores, and from city to city, adding tens of millions of cars to our already congested roadways. They will need goods and services, adding trucks.

If we refuse to plan ahead, our commercial arteries will be constricted, preventing businesses from moving goods to markets and choking our economy.

Today, our Federal Railroad Administration will begin determining which of the more than 90 projects can quickly deliver benefits like sustained economic development, reduced energy consumption, and improved regional transportation efficiency.

But while the FRA is reviewing the latest applications, our existing rail investments are already creating jobs, boosting American rail manufacturing, and spurring economic development. And rail can do these things while also reducing oil consumpttion, greenhouse gas emissions, and road congestion.

That’s the kind of investment we owe the next generation of Americans. That’s the kind of investment that will help this nation win the future.

Article by Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation.

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In recent months, several conservative governors have rejected federal funds to begin constructing high-speed rail lines in their states. But a high-speed rail advocate argues that such ideologically driven actions are folly, as other U.S. states and countries around the world are moving swiftly to embrace a technology that is essential for competitive 21st-century economies.

China has committed to investing $360 billion to vastly expand its showcase network of high-speed trains, which already carry passengers at more than 200 miles per hour between some of the country’s largest cities.

Spain, despite its economic woes, is investing $170 billion to extend its acclaimed high-speed rail system, which now makes the 386-mile Madrid-Barcelona run in just 2 hours, 38 minutes — compared to six hours by car. A similar boom in high-speed rail construction is taking place throughout Europe, from the boot of Italy to the Baltic Sea.

Worldwide, nations not normally associated with the bullet train revolution — India, Brazil, Argentina, and Morocco, among others — are making plans to build high-speed rail networks. They understand that rapid, inter-city rail systems will be essential to developing competitive 21st-century economies as oil supplies dwindle, highways and airports face increasing congestion, and pressure to reduce carbon emissions rises.

And the United States? For the past several months the news on the high-speed rail front has been dominated by several governors, swept into power by the Tea Party movement, proudly proclaiming that they will have nothing to do with high-speed rail projects, which they contend are boondoggles. Indeed, the governors of Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio have collectively rejected $3.6 billion in federal funds that would have covered nearly all of the cost of building rail lines on such routes as Orlando to Tampa, Milwaukee to Madison, and Cleveland to Columbus.

The actions of the three governors undermine the job creation that they tout as central to their administrations.

Fortunately, the foresight of the Obama administration and various states will ensure that the foundation of a national high-speed rail network will be laid in the coming years, with $8 billion in federal stimulus funds going to construct the first links in a high-speed rail network that is envisioned to stretch 17,000 miles by 2030. Bullet trains would eventually whisk people between all major U.S. cities — Los Angeles to Seattle, Dallas to Albuquerque, and Boston to Washington, at 220 miles per hour. The cost of such a network would be significant — $600 billion — but a combination of public and private funds would build the system, which would eventually yield benefits that far exceed the original investment.

For now, the U.S. funds rejected by governors Rick Scott of Florida, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and John Kasich of Ohio, will be distributed to other states such as California and Illinois, which will benefit for years to come from the job creation and economic stimulus that will accompany the establishment of high-speed rail networks. In the future, the actions by these three governors will be viewed as folly, decisions that were made on ideological rather than rational grounds and that undermine the job creation that the three governors tout as central to their administrations.

The decisions of the three Republican governors were not isolated acts, but rather a coordinated effort by the Tea Party and its allies to attempt to kill high-speed rail across America. Fortunately, 35 other governors — Republicans and Democrats alike — whose states were eligible for federal high-speed rail funding did accept U.S. grants for rail projects.

Last month’s decision by Governor Scott of Florida to reject federal funding for high-speed rail reflects the combination of bad information and partisan thinking that motivated all three governors to turn their backs on the future. In making his decision, Scott says he relied heavily on a January report by the libertarian Reason Foundation, which is funded by major conservative organizations, oil companies, and companies involved in highway construction.

The Reason Foundation report was riddled with inaccuracies, exaggerations, and distortions, such as a claim that the construction of the Orlando-Tampa line could cost Florida taxpayers $3 billion in capital cost overruns. That figure was arrived at by comparing the project in Florida to California, which faces far tougher right-of-way and land-use issues. The Tampa-Orlando line already has a long-established right of way on the Interstate 4 median, making it much cheaper to build. In addition, the international rail consortium that seeks to construct the Florida line has guaranteed that it will cover operation, maintenance, and subsidy costs for 30 years.

After rejecting the federal funds, Scott’s office issued a statement that he “is now focused on moving forward with infrastructure projects that create long-term jobs and turn Florida’s economy around.” Those new projects will require far more Florida tax dollars than would ever have been spent on the Tampa to Orlando line, prompting former Republican Governor Jeb Bush to express surprise at Scott’s decision. Fifteen Republican and 11 Democratic state senators in Florida also signed a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him to ignore Scott and allow the legislature to work with the international consortium to revive the Tampa to Orlando project.

The Florida line would connect Tampa and Orlando with Walt Disney World, one of the world’s top tourist attractions.

In addition, a group of Florida mayors is speaking with LaHood about bypassing the governor and allowing an organization formed by the mayors to receive the federal funds and oversee the building of the Tampa-Orlando line. This effort underscores the broad, bipartisan backing for the project, as evidenced by the fact that eight business associations from 11 counties in central Florida are staunch supporters of the proposed rail line. One key reason: The line would connect Tampa and Orlando with Walt Disney World, one of the world’s top tourist attractions.

The reasons that so many disparate interests support the creation of a national high-speed rail network are glaringly obvious, and are becoming more so by the day. The United States has become far too dependent on foreign oil, with Americans consuming six times more oil per capita than Europeans, who enjoy better, faster, and cheaper mobility. The U.S now spends up to $700 billion a year to import foreign oil, 70 percent of which is consumed by cars, trucks, and airplanes.

Now, for the second time in less than three years, the price of oil has shot up past $100 a barrel, threatening the fragile economic recovery. And most experts agree that the world has passed the point of peak oil, which means that as demand soars and supplies dwindle, oil prices could hit $300 per barrel this decade.

Enhancing U.S. energy security is just one reason the country needs a state-of-the-art high-speed rail system, which by 2030 could transport millions of people each day between America’s cities. A national high-speed rail system would generate millions of jobs; help revive the country’s manufacturing sector by creating a new industry producing the trains, steel, and related components; alleviate pressure on a crumbling transportation infrastructure; and lessen the ever-worsening congestion on America’s highways and at its airports, where delays cause an estimated $156 billion in losses to the U.S. economy annually. And then there is climate change and the large-scale reduction of CO2 emissions that would result from the creation of an interstate high-speed rail system and the expansion of regional commuter rail systems.

As a high-speed rail network spreads across the U.S. in the coming decades, the costs of operating the national transportation system will decline each year to the point where the savings will eventually exceed the estimated $600 billion cost of building the rail system. Although public funds will be used to cover much of the construction costs, the network will perform best if operated by private companies.

The U.S. must build a national high-speed rail network if it hopes to maintain its competitiveness in the world economy. China and Europe are now moving ahead with their high-speed rail networks at breakneck speed, which means that in a decade or two they will have significantly reduced their dependence on imported oil, created tens of millions of new jobs, and saved their countries trillions of dollars by vastly improving the productivity of their economies thanks to a low-carbon transportation sector that moves people and goods at speeds that could one day hit 300 miles per hour, or more.

The U.S. can be part of that future. But if more states follow the example of Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio, the country will remain shackled by 19th- and 20th-century forms of transportation in a 21st-century world. Contemplate this image: China, Europe, Russia, South America, and other parts of the globe are streaking by at 250 miles per hour while the likes of Governor Scott are stuck in a traffic jam on an interstate, watching the trains whiz past.

Article by Andy Kunz, appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Japan has long been at the forefront of high speed rail development since they laid down the first tracks for the Shinkansen system back in the 1960s. Since then, the bullet trains in Japan have grown into the busiest high speed rail line in the world and serve as the example for what high speed rail can become in other countries. Now, with the bullet train technology getting up there in age, Japan is preparing to put plans into motion to adopt a magnetic levitation system within the next twenty years.

According to an announcement by the Central Japan Railway Company, there are currently plans in place to improve upon an existing 178 miles of track in order to allow the implementation of magnetic levitation trains. The tracks in question are already a part of the company’s popular Tokyo to Osaka line that has been ferrying passengers between the two cities on bullet trains for years. The new trains, which are capable of a top speed of 310 miles per hour, are expected to take only forty minutes to pass between the two cities, which is down from the previous ninety-five minutes with the bullet trains, creating a more desirable on-ground transportation service. The trains would be, like the current bullet trains, designed to operate solely off electric systems.

Though the plans may be nearing the point where they can be put into effect only now, Japan has been experimenting with maglev train technology since the late 1990s. The technology has been developed not only with the improvement of Japan’s rail system in mind but also with an eye on selling the technology overseas. Last year, the Central Japan Railway Company began to work closely with the United States transportation secretary and other officials to determine if Obama’s plans to support high speed rail development would provide a market for the Japanese company. With China quickly developing high speed rail technology themselves, Japan believes it is critical to stay ahead of the game and secure customers for their own maglev technology.

The current plan for the implementation of the maglev trains in Japan is to have them ready for operation by 2027. The project, which is expected to cost an estimated $64 billion, could be only the beginning of another plan to further expand the Japanese high speed rail lines to accommodate more trains and lines by 2047. With both Japan and China furiously working towards developing maglev technology, it should be interesting to see whether Japan, the veterans in the high speed rail game, will come out on top.

Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.

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Imagine the last time you took a trip between two American cities.  Maybe you had to wait in line at a crowded airport; maybe you spent hours in traffic in a car or a bus.  Or maybe you made the trip on a train that had to slow down over and over because it was running on outdated tracks.

Now think about the fact that over the next 40 years, the population of the US is projected to grow by 100 million, and consider how much that’ll increase the use of our roads, airports, and rail.  Now imagine what that same trip you took will be like if we don’t build the transportation infrastructure we need to accommodate those extra travelers.

The fact is, those folks are going to travel one way or another.  But it’s up to us whether they travel on the infrastructure of the past, or whether they travel on new 21st century transportation infrastructure that’s fast, modern, efficient, and environmentally friendly.

That’s why Vice President Biden traveled to Philadelphia yesterday to announce a comprehensive plan to help the nation reach President Obama’s goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years.  The President is proposing to invest $53 billion over the next six years to continue construction of a national high-speed and intercity passenger rail network, which will create tens of thousands of private-sector jobs while helping to lay a new foundation for our economy.

Building a national high-speed rail network is a key part of this Administration’s plan to out-build, out-innovate, and out-compete the rest of the world. As Vice President Biden said in Philadelphia today, public infrastructure investment increases private-sector productivity, promotes growth, and creates jobs. Transportation infrastructure is the lifeblood of the global economy; if we can’t move goods and people faster and more efficiently than our competition, there’s no way we’re going to remain the most prosperous and productive country in the world.

But why high-speed rail? Why not build more highways and airports?

Look at it this way: in dense, highly populated regions like the Northeast Corridor, building just one mile of one lane of highway costs $40 to $50 million. And it doesn’t get any easier when you look at airports; adding a single extra runway at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport recently cost $1.3 billion. Worse yet, many of the airports in our most congested areas are surrounded by development and can’t be expanded, which makes it almost impossible to add more flights in and out of cities like New York.

And beyond the dollar costs of highways and airports, you have to consider their environmental cost in terms of increased carbon emissions: an Amtrak train between Philadelphia and New York can carry up to 500 passengers, and if those folks drove instead, they would use more than 1,900 gallons of gas. Not only is that roughly double the energy used by that train, but most of it comes from foreign oil.

But most important of all are the human costs of our aging transportation system. As the Vice President said today, “Think about the difference rail travel makes in people’s lives. I know, because when I was in the senate, it made an incredible difference in mine. Every minute you’re not stuck in traffic, or working your way through airport security, is a minute more that you can spend with your families.”

Billions of hours were wasted last year in congestion on American highways. And in our airports, the percentage of flights landing at least two hours late has more than doubled since 1990. Even on the Acela Express – the fastest train in the Northeast Corridor, which the Vice President rode today – it takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to New York City. That’s only about 45 minutes faster than in the 1940s.

We want to change that. Through our investments in high-speed rail, we’re hoping to cut the time for that trip to just 96 minutes. Over the next 25 years, our goal is to build high-speed and intercity passenger rail capacity equivalent to 1,900 miles of new highway, but with trains zipping along at up to 220 miles per hour in our most densely populated corridors. And we’re proposing to expand faster rail service to emerging and regional corridors as well, so that we can ultimately give 80 percent of Americans access to these core high-speed rail lines.

This is already happening in countries around the world, and as the Vice President said in Philadelphia today, there’s no reason we can’t do it here. Building a cutting-edge transportation system is the only way we’re going to keep leading the world. So let’s start building.

Article by Tobin Marcus, Deputy Economic Policy Advisor in the Office of the Vice President.

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A new study identifies the high-speed rail corridors in the U.S. with the greatest potential to attract ridership in the nation’s so-called “megaregions.” The study by the group America 2050 scores 7,870 potential rail corridors using 12 critical factors, including population, employment concentrations, rail transit accessibility, and air travel markets.

In addition to obvious potential markets such as New York to Washington and Los Angeles to San Diego, the study cites other megaregions with the potential to have well-developed high speed rail systems, including Chicago to Milwaukee and Dallas to Houston.

The study encourages the federal government to conduct a similar evaluation to decide where investment in high speed rail systems should be concentrated. The study only considered rail lines that extend from 100 to 600 miles, a distance at which trains can compete with automobiles and aviation.

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Hot on the heels of the announcement of Russia’s first ever electric vehicle hybrid another announcement came about the bolstering of Russia’s green transportation systems. According to the announcement that came from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the country is preparing to begin serious work towards a high speed rail system. Russia isn’t alone on this plan either. Many countries around the world, including the United States, have been looking at how efficient and cost effective high speed rail transportation can be.

Russia’s plan to move into green transportation on the mass transit scale has been thin on the details so far, but it is said to be inspired by another high speed rail system. Recently, the Prime Minister rode on a Finnish high speed rail train with the Finnish President, Tarja Halonen, during his visit to the country. The train in question was a French made Allegro and ran on a rail that passed between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. Putin says that the high speed rail he would like to have built in Russia would be ready in time for the 2018 World Cup which has chosen Russia for the host. Once the World Cup has come and gone, however, the trains would be utilized in a way to allow quicker travelling times between cities like Moscow, Kazan, Samara and Ulyanovsk and at a more frequent rate than current mass transit allows. While the future of such a rail service in Russia is unknown, all of the first rails would be run primary through the European portion of the country where the World Cup is to be held.

The announcement of high speed rails to bolster green transportation in Russia has come at a time when other projects have been announced across the globe. Turkey, for example, is currently testing new bullet train models on their currently existing high speed rails lines. In the United States, Florida has also announced that they will be working with Siemens to build a high speed rail line between Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. The Florida rails are a part of the greater picture presented by President Obama who has vowed to give over $80 million in grants for the development of high speed rail across the country in a bid to support a move towards green transportation.

No matter where it is established in the world, the development of high speed rails is pretty critical for the spread of mass transit and green transportation. Considering the size of the United States, it would seem this country could benefit from a system much like the Russians would. However, only time will tell if we are able to adopt new green transportation methods like the rest of the world or if we will get left behind.

Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.

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High-speed rail has been in the news a lot recently, in the US, in Europe, and in China. Some great news, and some not-so-great news. Here are 8 big stories from the past couple months.

1. The U.S. government awarded $2.4 billion to 54 rail projects in 23 states a couple weeks ago. This is in addition to the $8 billion awarded by the Obama administration at the beginning of the year. Projects in Florida, California, Michigan, and Iowa received the funds this time. While both U.S. and foreign companies are eligible to get high-speed rail contracts paid for with this funds, all companies “hired to build America’s next generation high-speed rail lines” have to “establish or expand their base of operations in the United States.” As a result, hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs are expected to come from these projects.

2. China continuously sets high-speed rail records. It recently opened a 220-km high-speed rail line between Shanghai and Hangzhou, extending the largest high-speed rail network in the world to 7431 kilometers (4617 miles). Running on this line is (by some standards) the fastest train in the world. While the “absolute world record holder” is a Japanese maglev train that went 581 km/h (361 mph) in 2003 and a French train set the record in 2007 for a train running on conventional rails at 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), a train running on this new line in China went 416.6 km/h (258.9 mph), setting the world record for “unmodified commercial trainset,” in October. Watch the video below.

3. Florida looks like it is likely to have the first high-speed rail line in the U.S. The Siemens Velaro trains it is looking to get travel up to 403 km/h (250 miles per hour), comparable to almost any high-speed train in the world. These trains already run in Germany, Spain, China, Russia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria, but they have not touched American rails yet.

4. While Florida is looking to have the first high-speed trains in the country, California is moving ahead steadily as well. The California High-Speed Rail Authority recently released a video on the details of its proposed project and visualizations of its trains. A few key points mentioned in the video are that high-speed trains will take people from downtown L.A. to downtown San Francisco in under 2.5 hours, these trains will go up to 354 km/h (220 mph), this will be the largest public works project in California in 50 years, and 600 construction jobs plus an additional 450 thousand permanent jobs will be created from the project (which is likely to keep moving ahead steadily with Democrat Jerry Brown recently elected there). Watch the video below for more details.

5. While there’s a lot of positive high-speed rail news these days, there’s also a lot of concerning news now as well. For one, Scott Walker, the incoming governor of Wisconsin, is committed to returning $810 million in federal funding for high-speed rail in his state. While this project would bring in thousands of jobs and the federal funds would cover almost all of the capital costs of the project, he ran on a plan to stop the project and looks like he is sticking to this campaign promise.

Walker says he’d rather see the money spent on roads, but this money is specifically for rail and Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood said there was no way the funding would go towards building new roads. More likely, it will be sent to another state that will be happy to receive it. Meanwhile, Wisconsin, which spends over $1 billion a year on highway projects, won’t have to dish out $7 million for operating an important high-speed rail line in its state. The strange thing is, if Walker is concerned about wasting money, pumping government funds into infrastructure for relatively large, inefficient automobiles instead of high-speed rail doesn’t make much sense.

6. Ohio’s new Republican governor, John Kasich, has said basically the same thing as Walker concerning a federally-funded rail project in Ohio. He is determined to send $400 million back to the federal government. In his first news conference after being elected, Kasich said: “Passenger rail is not in Ohio’s future…. That train is dead.” He also doesn’t understand the way federal transportation spending works or just intends to ignore it, as he also thinks the money should be spent on roads. Unfortunately, it has been this inability to see the value of high-speed, efficient transportation that requires much less infrastructure and foreign oil than roads and automobiles that has put the U.S. so far behind Europe and Asia in this field. Ohio will also be missing out on 16,000 jobs if Kasich goes through with this.

7. Of course, while a handful of Republicans would rather oppose Obama’s high-speed rail initiative than help their states, several states are itching for a little more federal money for their own high-speed rail projects and are more likely to get it now. So, while parts of the U.S. lose out, other parts will be gaining from these political changes.

8. While the U.S. fights over federal funding for high-speed rail, France contended with Germany and leading international train company, Eurostar, because for the first time in history Eurostar chose a German company, Siemens, to supply it with a new set of trains to run through the channel tunnel (reportedly the greenest trains in the world) instead of French company Alstom. French transport minister Dominique Bussereau said, “We have told the management of Eurotunnel and Eurostar that material other than Alstom material cannot be used,” claiming that the Siemens trains don’t meet certain safety requirements after the decision was made, but Eurostar disagreed and plans to proceed with its decision to use the new Siemens trains. Siemens didn’t even bother responding.

Article by Zachary Shahan, appearing courtesy Earth & Industry.

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