Press
The Associated Press: US jobs picture mixed for rail grants
01.28.2010
Mark Reutter’s report cited by the Associated Press:
The only U.S. project planned for a train speed around 200 mph is California’s 800-mile-corridor tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego, which received a $2.3 billion grant. Florida’s Tampa-to-Orlando trains, the next fastest project to win a grant, will reach a top speed of 150 mph, but average just 86 mph. Eventually the system could reach speeds around 180 mph when the line is extended to Miami, but only if decisions are made now to spend more money on designs and equipment compatible with faster technology.
By comparison, France’s Lorraine-Champagne line averages 169 mph and Japan’s Hioshima-Kokura line averages 159 mph, according to a report by the Progressive Policy Institute.
The only high-speed rail line in the United States is Amtrak’s Acela, which reaches 150 mph, but only briefly. It averages 67 mph between Boston and New York and 77 mph between New York and Washington. Most other intercity passenger trains in the U.S. share tracks with diesel or hybrid diesel-electric freight trains, which travel at speeds of 79 mph or less.
