UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Military


USA High-Speed Rail (HSR)

In the United States, passenger rail has always been less competitive than in other parts of the world due to a number of factors. Many argue that in order for a passenger rail network to be successful major changes in service improvement have to be implemented to make it more desirable to the user. High-speed rail can offer such service improvement.

Fostering the development of high-speed rail (HSR) and other intercity passenger service in the United States has been an important part of the work of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) since its creation in 1967. Since 1964, the United States has been exploring the notion of high-speed rail transportation, around the time Japan built the first Shinkansen line and before any of the European countries built their high-speed rail lines. In 2009, President Obama announced a plan to substantially upgrade speeds on existing rail routes and to create new high-speed rail corridors. Congress has appropriated more than $10 billion dollars for high speed rail initiatives to carry out the HSIPR program.

Operating speeds are only one element of a high-performing rail service. While 150 mph or 200 mph plus service makes sense in the context of segments of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) or the new highspeed service under construction in California, the infrastructure and resources required to construct and operate such services in other markets may not be economically feasible. In many markets, improving reliability, adding service frequencies, and addressing congestion issues will reduce trip times and deliver high-performing rail services operating at speeds of up to 110 mph.

Most rail investments to-date are invested in key corridors with a focus on projects offering the greatest public benefits, as well as those projects ready for implementation. FRA has strategically invested in 5 mega-regions (Seattle-Portland, San Francisco-Los Angeles, Charlotte-Raleigh-DC, Midwest hub, and Northeast Corridor) that hold some 65 percent of our population and that stand to absorb the bulk of future population growth. FRA, in partnership with states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia, is currently laying the foundation for high-speed rail corridors to link Americans with faster and more energy-efficient travel options. The Department of Transportation is working with states to plan and develop high-speed and intercity passenger rail corridors that range from upgrades to existing services to entirely new rail lines exclusively devoted to 150 to 220 mph trains.

High-Speed Rail (HSR) High-Speed Rail (HSR)

In 1992, FRA designated the five high-speed rail corridors called for in Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) (PL 102-240) :

  1. Midwest corridor linking Chicago , IL with Detroit , MI , St. Louis, MO and Milwaukee, WI.
  2. Florida corridor linking Miami with Orlando and Tampa.
  3. California corridor linking San Diego and Los Angeles with the Bay Area and Sacramento via the San Joaquin Valley.
  4. Southeast corridor connecting Charlotte, NC, Richmond, VA, and Washington, DC.
  5. Pacific Northwest corridor linking Eugene and Portland, OR with Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC, Canada.

In 1999 the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) (PL 105-178) passes. Section 1103 (c) authorized six additional corridor designations, for a total of eleven, as well as the extension of other previously designated corridors.

  1. Gulf Coast corridor
  2. Keystone corridor from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, PA
  3. Empire State corridor from New York City, NY to Albany, NY to Buffalo, NY
  4. Extension of the Southeast corridor from Charlotte to Greenville, SC to Atlanta, GA to Macon, GA ; and from Raleigh to Columbia, SC and to Savannah, GA and Jacksonville, FL
  5. Extension of the Midwest corridor (now called the Chicago Hub corridor) from Milwaukee, WI to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
  6. Extension of the Chicago Hub corridor to Indianapolis, IN and Cincinnati, OH.

In 2000 USDOT designates two new high-speed rail corridors for a total of ten and approves the extension of four corridors.

  1. Northern New England corridor, linking a hub in Boston with (a) Portland/Auburn, ME; and (b) Montreal, P.Q., via New Hampshire and Vermont
  2. South Central corridor linking Dallas/Ft. Worth with (a) Austin and San Antonio, TX (b) Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK; and (c) Texarkana, TX/AR, and Little Rock, AR
  3. Extension of the Southeast corridor from Macon to Jesup, GA
  4. Extension of the Gulf Coast corridor from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta, GA (joining the Southeast and Gulf Coast corridors)
  5. Extension of the Keystone corridor from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, PA
  6. Three extensions to the Chicago Hub corridor: from Chicago, IL to Toledo, KS and Cleveland, OH; from Indianapolis, IN to Louisville, KY, and between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati, OH (the '3C' corridor)
  7. The Secretary also clarified that “the designated California corridor comprehends the entire region lying between and among the extensive metropolitan areas of the San Francisco Bay, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego.”

In 2009, President Obama outlined a strategic plan that envisioned 10 high-speed rail lines encompassing 34 states. This plan suggested that an $8 billion upfront investment and an additional $1 billion annually for 5 years would build a significant part of the network. The White House raised unrealistic expectations causing predictable disappointment when most of the lines were not constructed.

Opposition mounted in February 2011 when the Republican Governor of Florida Rick Scott became the third governor to return federal funds for high speed rail - following Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who returned $810 million, and John Kasich of Ohio, who returned $400 million in December 2010. Scott returned the largest amount at $2.4 billion. (Florida was originally granted $1.5 billion and received additional funding from the rejections of the Ohio and Wisconsin grants.) Governor Scott feared that Florida taxpayers would be stuck with a $3 billion bill when the federal government funds ran out.

Illinois is also making significant progress towards a 284 mile “Acela like” passenger rail line between Chicago and St. Louis. Since 2005, XpressWest, formerly Desert Express, has been working with the FRA and several other agencies to develop a fully electric high speed train that will run from Victorville, California to Las Vegas in about 80 minutes at an excess of 150 mph.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is responsible for planning, designing, building and operation of the first high-speed rail system in the nation. By 2029, the system will run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours at speeds capable of over 200 miles per hour. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations. The Proposition 1A bond measure that California voters approved in 2008 to build a bullet train promised a train that would travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes without a tax increase or a public subsidy.

But the Authority chose a route that might not meet the sub-two-hour time mandated by voters. California had two major north-south rail routes and much of Interstate 5 that could have been used as the basis of a more direct line. The rail authority's existing funds are stretched thin. It has $21 billion to build the 240-mile initial operating segment from San Jose to the Central Valley. In 2008, voters were told that the entire Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system would be completed by 2020. The date for a partial system later slipped to 2022, and then 2025. A combination of delays, including lengthy environmental reviews, protracted lawsuits, and the slow pace of buying land for the right of way – plagued the rail project.

Amtrak is America’s intercity passenger rail service and its high-speed rail operator. A record 31.2 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2012 on more than 300 daily trains – at speeds up to 150 mph (240 kph) – that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Amtrak operates intercity trains in partnership with 15 states and contracts with 13 commuter rail agencies to provide a variety of services. The Northeast corridor which connects Boston, New York City and Washington DC averages 68 miles per hour between Boston and New York and 82 miles per hour between New York and Washington. In January 2013 Amtrak announced that it was seeking a HSR train set able to operate at the current NEC maximum speed of 150 mph and can subsequently operate at up to 220 mph as the tracks and other infrastructure is improved to support the higher speeds.

On January 24, 2014 Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority issued a request for proposals to build modern, state-of-the-art high-speed trainsets. The trainsets are essential to meeting Amtrak’s critical short-term need to expand the capacity of its current Northeast Corridor (NEC) high-speed service and meeting the long-term operational needs of both Amtrak and the Authority. Amtrak is seeking up to 28 high-speed trainsets, each with between 400 and 450 seats, which can meet or exceed current Acela Express trip-times on the existing NEC infrastructure between Washington, New York and Boston. The Authority is seeking an initial order of 15 trainsets which will have a minimum of 450 seats that can meet its planned trip-time requirements for service from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles on what will be largely brand new infrastructure.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) Board of Directors approved the awarding of a contract for Early Train Operator services to DB Engineering & Consulting USA. DB Engineering & Consulting USA will act as Lead Operator, with its partner company, Deutsche Bahn AG, acting as a guarantor Deutsche Bahn AG is a joint stock corporation; its shares are held entirely by the Federal Republic of Germany.





NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list