Steve Glazer said.īut Buncher is confident that when California’s line is complete, it will transform the way Americans view train travel. It’s time to wake up from it though, and own up to the fact that it’s not going to be built in our lifetime," Sen. There is currently no federal plan in the U.S.Īnd some lawmakers in California echo national concerns the trains cost taxpayers too much and will be outdated by the time they open. Rail advocates have struggled to get more political support. Of course, it's going to be the most expensive system in the country," Kunz said. You've got highways everywhere you look, plus, California is a huge state. "They've got three major mountain ranges. Voters approved the $33 billion project in 2008 - with the state optimistic the line would open in 2020.īut three years past the deadline, California is just now working on a "starter" line in the middle of the state, set to open in 2030 with a new overall price tag of $113 billion. So you're in a situation where we're trying to figure this out from from the start," Kunz said.Ĭalifornia's High-Speed Rail Authority Project is the nation’s only bullet train currently under construction and aims to eventually connect San Diego to San Francisco. to build as quickly and cheaply as other countries. It would mean overhauling infrastructure from building brand-new train tracks, stations and modernizing the electric grid - all while cutting through miles of public and private land.īureaucratic hoops, from land permits to environmental regulations, also make it difficult for the U.S. LEARN MOREīuilding a high-speed network isn’t as simple as putting faster trains on already-existing rails. President Biden will visit the aging Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel that's slated to be replaced with help from bipartisan infrastructure legislation. "That would probably cost around $600 billion to build," Kunz said.įor 'Amtrak Joe' Biden, Baltimore rail tunnel visit is personal While it’s the largest investment in American rail in history - none of it was earmarked for high-speed trains.Īnd according to Kunz, the nation will need much more than that to build out his association’s proposed 17,000 miles of new track. President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure plan allocated $65 billion for rail. And that's what we haven't had here," Buncher said. "It's a heavy investment from the government that helps it move forward. Marc Buncher, with Siemens Mobility, says there’s a key reason other countries have been successful. It's now serving nearly two billion people a year.Ĭould the same type of transit work here in the U.S.?
It carries over 400,000 people around the country every day.Įurope came next, starting in France with a 200-mile-an-hour inter-city rail line, which snowballed into the international rail network we see today.īut China’s system outgrew them all, constructing over 26,000 miles of train lines, in less than 30 years. was in the throes of building highways, Japan opened the world’s first high-speed rail network in 1964. Overseas – the concept is already reality. You can now have access to great job centers, you know, much quicker, much more conveniently, without all the headaches and the hassles and the energy consumption of of road congestion," he said. There's no security hassles," Kunz said.įrom traffic woes to climate to affordable housing, he says high speed rail is a silver bullet solution. "The on time performance, the high capacity, the comfort levels, you know, have great food on the trains. High Speed Rail Association, an advocacy and trade group dedicated to advancing fast rail across the country. Kunz is the CEO and president of the U.S. In times like these Andy Kunz dreams of a better way to get around - with high-speed rail. That brings us to 2023, where typical commuters spend at least 51 hours a year sitting in traffic. Private companies like General Motors purchased failing rail companies and converted them into bus lines, while the government signed off on a $25 billion interstate highway system. Maintenance costs rose, service dropped and streetcar monopolies started going bankrupt. Streetcars couldn’t keep up with the private, modern comfort of an automobile. Suddenly automobiles crowded narrow city streets, driving down streetcar tracks and creating a problem never seen before - massive traffic jams. But the dominance of public transit didn't last once people got a newer, more convenient way to get around. Tracks stretched from bustling city centers into rural areas, turning empty land into neighborhoods.įarmers could catch a train and sell goods statewide, businesses got wealthier and cities grew. Over 100 years ago, the invention of the streetcar made the country accessible like never before.
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