High-Speed Rails In the United States

From our class discussion about the railroad we arrived at the conclusion that the railroad was not a necessity to our economic growth since entrepreneurs could have invented alternative transportation methods. Why then do we want to build a new high speed rail infrastructure? How much business will it take away from our current railroads, the trucking industry, and the car industry? Will it be a direct competition to these businesses? Is the cost of the new high speed rail will be too costly due to these industries’ losses? Or through the cooperation of the new railroad and existing transportation methods our economy will be faster, more productive, and more efficient? Will it create millions of new jobs, reduce pollution, lower our dependency in oil, and reduce congestion on our interstate highways? In the United States there is one high-speed rail service, from Boston to Washington DC, but unlike the ones in Europe and Japan it shares the tracks with a conventional rail, which is very inefficient. The first dedicated high speed rail infrastructure will be built here in CA and it will be interesting to see its effects on our economy.

For further information go to:

http://www.economist.com/node/16636101

http://www.ushsr.com/benefits.html