This caught me by surprise. I had become accustomed to Amtrak putt-putting and pooh-poohing along, afraid to be too ambitious and resigned to 3rd class transportation status behind air and highway travel.
And then I read this proposal. Trains up to 220 MPH along the Northeast Corridor between DC and Boston (and Baltimore, Philly, and NYC in between). The Northeast Corridor makes a lot of sense for high speed rail: it has the highest ridership and the most big cities to connect in such a small area. Imagine 96 minutes from DC to NYC, or 84 minutes between NYC and Boston.
An high speed rail along this corridor will actually out compete air travel, so I'd expect ridership to skyrocket once this plan is actually implemented. Trains offer more space, less claustrophobia, and better scenery than airplanes. And shorter lines and less security red tape. Everyone knows that a 2 hour air flight actually takes up to 4 hours when you consider security lines and arriving early.
I expect many on the conservative/small government side of the political spectrum to balk at the price tag. $117 billion over 25 years certainly sounds like an awful lot of money. But let's put this into perspective: To this point we've spent more than 1.2 trillion dollars in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since 2001. (Cost of War)
Now all is not roses. Why does it need to take 25-30 years to complete this? Why not 10 years or less? The faster we get this off the ground the sooner it starts to generate income, and the quicker people will realize how convenient rail travel can be. Amtrak has finally stepped up to the plate with this proposal, but 25 years? Europe has had rail transit this good for a couple decades, and we're also way behind Japan and China, so we need to do some major catching up in the train department.
Petergreenberg.com
Dailyfinance.com
USAToday
UPDATE:
An additional $745 million has been directed toward the Northeast Corridor to upgrade our rail systems. With the money and the plans, there's no reason why this work can't get started ASAP.
http://www.earthtechling.com
