President Obama has announced that the US will be heavily investing in improving and increasing the speed of the nation’s railroads. Coming alongside his recently announced energy policy, Obama has now made a number of commitments to creating a greener economy and increasing US energy efficiency. The move should also please Vice President Joe Biden, who is a well-known train enthusiast.
Strategic Rail Plan
Obama’s strategic rail plan has two aims; to create world-class high-speed railroad corridors, and to improve and increase the speed of existing infrastructure.
Alongside the Northeast Corridor, which already has high-speed railroads, there are ten major corridors that have been identified for potential high-speed rail projects. These are:
- California Corridor (Bay Area, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego)
- Pacific Northwest Corridor (Eugene, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Vancouver BC)
- South Central Corridor (Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Austin, Little Rock)
- Gulf Coast Corridor (Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Birmingham, Atlanta)
- Chicago Hub Network (Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville,)
- Florida Corridor (Orlando, Tampa, Miami)
- Southeast Corridor (Washington, Raleigh, Atlanta, Macon, Columbia, Jacksonville)
- Keystone Corridor (Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh)
- Empire Corridor (New York City, Albany, Buffalo)
- Northern New England Corridor (Boston, Montreal, Portland, Albany)
Funding for the plan will mostly come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). $8 billion of the ARRA’s total $787 billion has been earmarked for the creation of high-speed rail infrastructure. Further to this, the President has promised $1 billion a year for 5 years from the federal budget to jumpstart the project.
The Federal Railroad Administration will begin to award money by late summer 2009.
Upgrading to High-Speed Trains
US trains currently travel at a federally-mandated 79mph (127km/h), making them a slow and unattractive prospect when compared to cross-country air travel. Obama’s plans would see entirely new train tracks built in the 11 corridors capable of having trains travel at speeds of up to 220mph on them.
This would move the US more into line with places such as Spain, Japan, and China. Spain currently has a number of services which run at 205mph (330km/h), Japan is building a railroad between Tokyo and Osaka that is expected to run at 300mph (480km/h) and China will soon have more miles of high speed track than anywhere else in the world.
Impact on Oil Consumption
By improving American trains Obama is hoping to increase train usage and, consequentially, decrease American car and airplane use. This, in turn, is likely to lead to a reduction in the American dependence on foreign oil. Focussing on improving the American train system is an intelligent move with regards to oil, as it is an already-proven technology, unlike other possible replacements to oil.
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