Obama Calls for a National High-Speed Rail Network

President Obama today [April 16, 2009] unveiled his plan to develop a national network of high-speed passenger rail lines in 10 key transportation corridors across the United States—from California and the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf Coast and New England.

Obama said a new high-speed rail network would relieve congestion and provide both economic and environmental benefits.

“What we need . . . is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century,” Obama said in an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, “a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility, a system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity, a system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.”

President Obama proposed an initial investment of $13 billion to get the high-speed trains rolling. The first $8 billion would come from the president’s $787 billion economic stimulus package, money already set aside for improvements in rail service over the next two years. Obama also suggested another $5 billion investment ($1 billion annually over the next five years) as part of his administration’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2010. And all that is on top of $1.3 billion in federal funding for Amtrak.

The 10 regional transportation corridors chosen for the new high-speed rail network are all between 100 and 600 miles long. Each was selected because it shows great promise for potential benefits from high-speed rail development.

Only one high-speed rail line is currently operating in the United States—in the Northeast corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston—but the president pointed out during his remarks that Europe and Japan have been using high-speed rail successfully for many years, and China is quickly becoming a world leader in high-speed rail transportation.

“Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination,” Obama said. “It is happening right now; it’s been happening for decades. The problem is, it’s been happening elsewhere, not here.”

The president's plan drew praise from many environmental and transportation experts, but with a few caveats about the need to take an integrated multi-modal approach to solving the nation's transportation problems.

“The President is on the right track,” said Nancy Kete, director of EMBARQ—The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport, a nonprofit organization that develops transportation solutions for cities worldwide. “The new plan to integrate high-speed rail with urban transit will help reduce congestion and make cities better places to live. But there’s a missing mode in the plan. To complement rail, we also need to help cities build high-quality, high-capacity bus rapid-transit systems, which can offer good high-speed service, but at a fraction of the cost of rail.”

Kete said the Obama administration also should consider new pricing policies, such as raising fuel taxes and charging car commuters for entering downtown streets during rush hour: "This will not only cut traffic and clear air pollution, but it will also raise much-needed revenue for better transportation services, including mass transit expansion and highway maintenance."

But today was all about Obama's vision for a national high-speed rail network.

“There's no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders," he said. "Building a new system of high-speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburdened aviation system—and everybody stands to benefit.”

Also Read:

• Public Transportation: Fast Track to Fewer Emissions and Energy Independence
• U.S. Economic Stimulus Package Includes Billions for Energy and the Environment
• The Great American Streetcar Scandal
• Transit Paradox: Ridership Up, Services Down