Are we finally ready to move away from our car culture? It would seem so!
For the remaining skeptics among us, here is why it looks like America is ready for high speed train travel:
New America THINKS survey results from HNTB Corp. illustrate that transit and passenger rail remain at the top of America’s minds after the Obama administration’s $8 billion high-speed rail grant announcement last month.
Nearly nine in 10 (88 percent) Americans are currently open to high-speed rail for long-distance travel within the U.S. While this is a strong majority, that support is down slightly from the 94 percent America THINKS recorded in March 2009.
It is also important to note that Americans think the Federal government should increase its share of transportation funding for transit:
More than four in five (83 percent) Americans agree public transit and high-speed rail infrastructure should receive a larger share of federal funding than they do now.
Looks like I agree with the majority. For a change!
HNTB is a corporation that lives off the trough of gov’t projects.
What was the survey question? I’m sure that many would give lip service to HSR but would they do so given the cost? Or given a different choice?
They would be like Boeing issuing a press release that people support air travel.
95% of citizens don’t know the real details behind the various high speed rail projects. That’s what I found out when I did my own independent neighborhood poll of 150 households living near the proposed rail corridor. On the surface they sound good, especially as represented by those that want to build them. The reality is we can’t afford them (don’t talk to me about opportunity costs – see below) and they are underfunded to boot. Unless the Federal Government is going to front the $500B to $1Trillion to build them, the states are going to have to pay, and they don’t have any money. Here in California, we have a $21B deficit, our schools fell to number 50 in the nation and our levies (remember what happened during Katrina?) desperately need rebuilding in order to keep the salt water from SF Bay out of the drinking water. The likely real cost of our HSR is $80B, not the $42.6B claimed. So far we have $9B in state bond, $2.25B from the Fed and $0 from private money. The HSR Board has been unable to produce a basic investment grade business plan or believable ridership surveys and yet they are set to start construction in 2012. The way the bond measure was written, the system must be delivered in full SF to LA, and operate without subsidy or it will not be funded. So far, the legislators have not had the nerve to pull the plug because the political will is extraordinarily powerful and the rail boards have huge PR budgets (funded by the tax payers), whereas private citizens and City governments have none. Just because a survey says all is great, consider who took it. HNTB is one of the major consulting companies on the HSR project here in California. If it’s anything like the work they’ve done on the HSR project to date, I wouldn’t trust it any farther than I can throw it.
I have read numerous accounts of the pet HSR projects around the country. Some are track and wheel configurations and some are Maglev. The question I ask is. Has anybody done an in-depth study of the best and most promising technology. There are several conventional (European) high speed rail offerings. There are 3 Maglev designs, German, Japanese and American. Why not look at all the options and behave as we would if we were buying a new house or a car for ourselves? Knowing as much as I do about all of these designs, the American Maglev looks like the superior choice. Of course I represent the American Maglev so you may say I am biased. Perhaps I am, but what I really want to see is the best technology to prevail.
The American Maglev can operate in almost all weather conditions. Ice and snow wont stop it. Earthquakes wont stop it either unless the entire structure falls down. Hurricane force winds of 125 mph will not blow it off its guideway. Moreover the switching is all electronic and can switch tracks at high speed. No other system can do that.
The Japanese tell us that with their wheel and track “Bullet Train” they realign track every night. That’s a maintenance nightmare we could not afford. As a competitive person I say, talk me down if I’m wrong. See our website http://www.magneticglide,com