High-Speed Rail Called Key to Long-Term Growth

NEW YORK CITY-Already home to the nation’s only high-speed rail line, Amtrak’s Acela, the Northeast “megaregion” ranks high in parameters for determining where future HSR investment should be focused. So says a new report from the America 2050 initiative, headquartered here.

Titled “High-Speed Rail in America,” the study puts ridership potential at the top of the list of factors that identify where state and federal dollars should go. Not surprisingly, America 2050 says the Boston-to-Washington, DC corridor “leads the nation in virtually every parameter evaluated in this study, from population, density, employment and share of knowledge workers to transit connectivity.” Shorter routes within that corridor, such as the 90-mile span between New York City and Philadelphia, also rank high, as do intermediate routes of 150 miles or less in other parts of the US.

“America 2050 strongly believes that investments in HSR will be essential to the long-term economic success and mobility of the nation and its megaregions, and supports the Obama administration’s efforts to lay the foundation for a national HSR network serving these places,” says Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association and co-chair of America 2050, in a release. However, Yaro adds that the study recommends “a data-driven, ridership-based approach to choosing rail corridors for federal investment in the future in order to direct funding toward projects with the greatest market demand.”

Outside the Northeast, the study cites corridors such as Chicago to Milwaukee; Los Angeles to San Diego; Tampa to Miami via Orlando; Dallas to Houston; Atlanta to Birmingham; Portland to Seattle; and Denver to Pueblo, CO. It focuses on corridors of no more than 600 miles in length; that’s the mileage range in which HSR could compete effectively with highways and air travel. The study also stipulates that for maximum effectiveness, HSR lines need to connect with dense city centers and existing public transit systems.

The corridor along which the Acela travels accounts for 80% of the nation’s rail transit ridership, including subways and light rail, the study says. However, it also notes that this corridor is hampered by capacity constraints and Amtrak’s need to bring the trackage and other infrastructure up to a state of good repair—at an estimated $8.8-billion cost.

It’s challenges such as these that need to be taken into account, not only ridership potential, according to the study. “Other factors too may determine how and where the federal government chooses to invest, such as local funding and financing, engineering and design considerations, the capacity of state and regional agencies to carry out projects and local political support,” the study says.

As an example of the latter, incoming Ohio Gov. John Kasich vowed to scrap the 3C plan, a high-speed corridor that would connect Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, while his newly elected counterpart in Wisconsin, Scott Walker, campaigned against a rail line between Milwaukee and Madison as a waste of taxpayer money. In response, the Obama administration last month redistributed $1.2 billion in HSR funds to 12 other states, including California and New York. “Federal investments may also be motivated by the desire to promote economic development in underperforming regions, such as former manufacturing economies,” the America 2050 study states.