High-speed rail on way to becoming a reality in U.S.

(Photo of futuristic high-speed trains side-by-side in Taiwan station from Flickr and photographer James Tung)

With U.S. population predicted to grow about 40 million in the next 20 years, we clearly will need some major build-out to move all these folks around. More highways? More airports? More, better and faster trains? Probably all three, but the latter makes the most sense for the planet, and we’re running far behind the rest of the world on trains. Rail here gets little respect. (see previous post)

Trains are an efficient way to move people up to 500 miles. You may be surprised to learn 80% of travel in the U.S. is within those bounds and one-third of the trips in and out of busy O’Hare Airport in Chicago are 500 miles or less. (This and other key information comes from James McCommons’ book, “Waiting on the Train.”)

As the highways and the skyways get more congested, causing frustration and long delays, it’s increasingly easy to listen to railroad buffs argue the case for trains – especially if they can move faster and more frequently than they do now, and get places on time.

Amtrak inter-city trains would be able to go up to 110 mph if they had better equipment and tracks where they could move freely, unhindered by freight trains.

And then there are the high-speed bullet trains – up to 220 mph – that Europe and Japan take for granted and even China is racing ahead on.

It may take 10-15 years, but high-speed rail seems to be coming – with support from the Obama Administration and many states.

California leads the way
California (as is often is the case) is likely to be first with a bullet train. Despite the car culture there, driving on choked freeways is no fun.

California voters approved a nearly $10B bond issue in 2008 to build a bullet-train line from LA to San Francisco (time: 2½ hours). Eventually it will extend to San Diego and Sacramento. The total cost is estimated at $40 billion. The state recently got $2.3B in stimulus funds to further its plans. The route is already selected and engineering is under way.

California is one of several states to put some of its own money into passenger rail, investing $2B since 1976. (Others include Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington and North Caroline.) California owns its own trains and is good at connectivity, having buses ready to pick people up at the train stations.

The Chicago connection
The Midwest also has a plan, using Chicago as a hub, to reach cities like St. Louis, Milwaukee and Detroit. It just got $2.2B in stimulus funds to work on the Chicago-St. Louis run. A portion of that line should soon be able to carry trains at 110mph. The Midwest has been planning for years and would like to link up with cities from Cincinnati to Kansas City over time. Stops in college towns would bring a lot of passengers onpoard.

Florida too got stimulus money ($1.25B) to develop a route from Tampa to Orlando. The state has been getting 400,000 new residents each year and has to think about transporting them. High-speed rail has been on-again, off-again over the past few decades. Former Gov. Bob Graham loved it, Jeb Bush hated it. But much of the planning is done and the state applied for the stimulus funds and got them. In addition to Tampa and Orlando, planners are eying Disneyland as a profitable stop. Future expansions would likely go to Miami and Jacksonville.

A national plan
The U.S. High Speed Rail Association has a plan (hit play on map to see it develop) that would link the country with high-speed trains by 2030.

Sure it would be expensive, but so are highways and airports. The federal government has a Highway Trust Fund but there’s no similar fund for trains. There should be.

Building high-speed rail would provide lots of jobs. California alone predicts 150,000 temporary and 450,000 permanent ones. This could be a major infrastructure project to put people back to work.

I know, you’re thinking the states are bankrupt and won’t be able to help finance such grand plans. But there are creative ways, such as selling bonds and forming public-private partnerships. Advocates say the revenue will be enough to pay back investors.

One current campaign is to get Congress to up its contribution to high speed rail to $4B a year for 5 years. This year the House voted that much, but it ended up being $2.5B. Obama has asked for $1B a year.

To join the campaign, go to fourbillion.com

(Special thanks to James McCommons and his book “Waiting on the Train” for much of the information here. Other sources: The National High-Speed Rail Association and Polk County Democrat.)

More people taking the train due to high gas prices; Amtrak likely to break record

(Photo of Amtrak coach cars from Flickr and photographer J.H. Gray)

News Update 3: Amtrak is on track to carry a record 28 million passengers this fiscal year, compared with 25.8 million last year. July service was up nearly 14% from last July. As high gas prices drive more people to trains, they have become overcrowded and are showing their age. Congress recently OK’d a 33% increase in Amtrak’s budget, starting in October, and will provide grants to states to expand rail service. (Source: Greenwire)

High gas prices driving Americans to more fuel-efficient smaller cars, and to trains

(Photo of the cost of filling up a F-150 pickup, with graffiti, from Flickr and photographer ugas1/Christy C)

Weekly Angst: With the price of gasoline climbing ever higher, Americans are seeing green. Whether it’s all economics or in part concern about global warming, train ridership is up and sales of motor vehicles are shifting from trucks and SUVs to compact cars, all to the benefit of the environment. The trend is hard to miss. Here are some news items from the past two weeks:

Train ridership up; Amtrak funding bill faces Bush veto
Amtrak ticket sales rose 15.6% in May, over a year ago, and officials say ridership is up about 11% for the year. They attribute half the increase to high gas prices. Train advocates are asking more federal money to help trains compete with airplanes here. About 1% of passenger miles are by train in the U.S., while France, Britain and Germany see 6-8% and Japan 18%. Amtrak is slow and inefficient while France, Germany and Japan have high-speed trains on dedicated tracks with special signals, allowing them to go 150-185 mph. A House-approved Amtrak bill faces a veto from the White House because it doesn’t contain reforms. Dem presidential candidate Barack Obama said he’d fight for funding with reforms. GOP candidate John McCain has in the past voted against subsidies for Amtrak. (Sources: Reuters/New York Times)

Train industry asks incentives to expand nation’s rail system
The railroad industry defended recent profits before a Senate panel last week and asked for incentives to expand rail nationwide. Saying rail profits are lower than most industries, the Association of American Railroads pointed to the environmental benefits of trains, noting that they are 3 times more fuel-efficient than trucks. An industry ad campaign says freight trains can carry a ton of freight 436 miles on a gallon of diesel. (Source: E&E Daily)

GM to close 4 truck plants, re-evaluate its Hummer
General Motors announced it will close 4 North American plants that make pickup trucks and SUVs and will add a shift to 2 plants that make smaller cars. GM reaffirmed its commitment to its plug-in hybrid, the Chevy Volt, and said it would re-evaluate the Hummer.

Ford Motor Co. says it will cut back on trucks and SUVs too
Ford also is following demand and cutting production of trucks and sport utility vehicles and focusing more on smaller cars like the Focus and Edge. The F-150 pickup, which has long driven profits for the company, is in less demand. Further cuts may be required, officials said.

GM to help set up filling station for hydrogen fuel-cell cars
General Motors is partnering with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. on a hydrogen fuel-cell refueling station near Los Angeles International Airport, as the first step toward a network of such stations in California. For now, it will be used by test drivers for the fuel-cell Chevy Equinox, expected to be for sale by 2014 at the latest. Fuel-cell cars emit only water vapor. (Sources: Greenwire and Reuters/New York Times)

Toyota plugs its electric/gas plug-in hybrid, expected in 2010
Toyota said it will introduce a plug-in hybrid with a next-generation lithium-ion battery in Japan, the U.S. and Europe in 2010. Sales of smaller Toyota cars rose sharply last month, the company said, with the Corolla up 17%. Hybrid sales are flat – for the simple reason that they are in very short supply, due to a backlog in getting parts. Toyota plans to open plants for hybrids in Thailand and Australia, to sell cars to the developing world. (Sources: Greenwire, Bloomberg)

Industry leaders ask for federal help in jump-starting plug-ins
Top auto officials told a forum in Washington, D.C., this week that U.S. companies need government support for R&D to compete with Asia, which dominates in development of batteries for electric plug-ins. There’s also a need for consumer tax breaks to encourage early adopters to buy this type of car and break down resistance to something new. (Bills stalled in the Senate call for such consumer incentives.) With that help, plugs-in, which are technically feasible, can become a booming market, said GM President for North America Tom Clarke. In the same week, the Bush administration announced a $30 million R&D program for plug-ins. (Source: Greenwire)

Chicago considers switching all taxis to hybrid by 2014
Following the lead of New York City, key Chicago Ald. Ed Burke (14th ) and Transportation Committee Chair Tom Allen (38th) want all taxi cabs in the city to be hybrids by Jan. 1, 2014. Cabs are replaced every 4 years. The two said they want, starting next year, to mandate that all replacement cabs be either hybrid or run on alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas, biodiesel or hydrogen. At this point there are 50 hybrid taxis on the street. I rode in one last week and the driver was please it cost him about a third as much for gas. (Chicago Sun-Times)

This is the kind of movement we need, away from gas guzzlers. Let’s hope it continues, even if high prices are a pain in the pocketbook. (Easy enough for me to say. I have a Prius.) Europe’s petrol prices are much higher than ours and they have long had smaller cars and better trains.