What it's like to have a thinking president in office - high speed rail in Americaaa! From
whitehouse.gov:
What we’re talking about is a vision for high-speed rail in America. Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city. No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes. (Laughter.) Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project that would be to rebuild America.
Now, all of you know this is not some fanciful, pie-in-the-sky vision of the future. It is now. It is happening right now. It’s been happening for decades. The problem is it’s been happening elsewhere, not here.
In France, high-speed rail has pulled regions from isolation, ignited growth, remade quiet towns into thriving tourist destinations. In Spain, a high-speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel between those cities by rail than by car and airplane combined. China, where service began just two years ago, may have more miles of high-speed rail service than any other country just five years from now. And Japan, the nation that unveiled the first high-speed rail system, is already at work building the next: a line that will connect Tokyo with Osaka at speeds of over 300 miles per hour. So it’s being done; it’s just not being done here.
There’s no reason why we can’t do this. This is America. There’s no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders. Building a new system of high-speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburdened aviation system –- and everybody stands to benefit.
Uhh... everyone? I can't help but notice a huge gaping hole in the map of proposed tracks.
(click through to see full picture)
My initial reaction is to ask, how can Obama leave us out? The mountain west swing states that were crucial to his campaign strategy are out of the loop.
Four of the fastest growing cities in the US (Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso and Denver) and the
fifth largest city (Phoenix) in the United States are probably the most starved for mass transit and noticeably missing out on a chance to join America in the 21st Century.
But perhaps we were left out due to geograhic reasons. It can't be easy building high speed rail through mountains with elevations upwards of 14,000 feet. Maybe my grandchildren will see mass transportation in New Mexico and the greater Southwest. Meanwhile, I will selfishly take advantage of my life as a coastie and take trips to San Diego at lightning speed. Future, here I come!
