New York to Washington D.C. high speed rail takes a step forward
Articles — By forcechange on December 15, 2008 4:12 pm
The U.S. Department of Transportation and Congressional leaders in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced today that the department would be seeking proposals from contractors to build a high speed rail line between Washington D.C. and New York City.
That route is currently served by the higher speed Acela and standard Amtrak trains, which currently take three and four hours for the trip, respectively. A true high speed train would take under two hours. Currently, both Acela and standard Amtrak trains share the Northeast Corridor line with freight trains. The high speed proposal would create a new dedicated commuter-only line.
Estimated costs to build the project are between $30 billion to $40 billion.
Some of the major engineering obstacles for the proposed line would include navigating through downtown Baltimore, and under the Hudson River, which forms a moat on the west side of Manhattan.
It seems like high speed rail in America may finally be getting the attention it deserves, with high profile proposals outstanding in California, Texas, the Midwest, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, and possibly Minnesota.
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United States’ high speed rail (HSR) effort has been dogged by lack of political will, lack of financial will and lack of cohesion. I can understand the Japanese, French and Germans are ahead of the curve due to their high population density, but I am disappointed that the Chinese and the Taiwanese are ahead of the Americans.
I often wonder why we Americans often need someone else to kick us in the buttocks, so we have the will to do something extraordinarily positive. Remember the race to the moon after the Russians launched Sputnik? Whether or not the east coast will build a real HSR system, I am glad to see the Californians are taking a real effort in their venture. It is time for us to act like a true leader.