Faster than a speeding… Commuter train

Last April, U.S. president Barack Obama announced that 8 billion dollars of the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) stimulus money would go to investment in high speed rail transportation. Common throughout Europe and Japan, the trains, as sometimes called “bullet trains,” zoom passengers to their destinations at speeds up to 250 miles per hour.

Of the European transit system, Parisian college professor Kevin Dwyer believes that high speed rail transit makes housing options available. “We were considering living in Paris but in Paris you can never live in a house. You have to live in a small, small, small apartment.” The train allows Dwyer and his family to live in a four story house in Brussels and take the hour and twenty commute to work. “This is becoming … a wider practice now – commuting between European countries. We are like a new species. It’s called the Euro Proff.” . This new crop of international daily commuters are seen throughout the continent waking up in one country to spend their day and work hours in another.

The movement to provide high speed rail in America may be related to the experience US travelers have had overseas. “Anybody that’s ever traveled in France or Spain or Japan or China and has ridden on a 250-mile-an-hour train comes back to America scratching their head, saying ‘why don’t we have high-speed rail?’” says U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood. Some site the convenience of avoiding long lines at the airport. Others believe the experience itself will inspire them to take the train. Many Americans have yet to enjoy travel by train, away from freeways, billboards and traffic.

America 2050, a research initiative funded by a number of large foundations including the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation, is taking long look at the U.S. infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the next 50 years. Their website illustrates the vision of providing high-speed rail lines throughout America over the next decade. Of the three phases to leading completion, phase one includes improvements within the three megaregion systems: the Northeast Corridor, the Chicago Hub system of the Midwest, and the California high-speed rail corridor from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

High speed rail has a number of implications for transportation in the United States and elsewhere. Energy consumption of high-speed rail technology is a fraction of gas-engine vehicles and airplanes. The “Bullets” can take advantage of existing rail lines and infrastructure. Not having to build new roads or airports translates to a clean and efficient use of resources. Those passengers choosing to take the train will help to reduce the amount of green house gas emissions and will contribute the cleaning and “greening” of the environment. Going faster than a speeding bullet may also get you where you want to be.