The need for high-speed rail in the U.S. has been publicly debated since Obama declared in 2009 that he wanted to set $13 billion aside “as a down payment to jump-start a potential world-class passenger rail system and set the direction of transportation policy for the future.”
At a time when many Americans are concerned about curbing governmental spending, high-speed rail may seem like a misplaced priority. However, many, such as U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood feel we have the perfect window of opportunity to completely transform the face of U.S. transportation for the better, and we’d be unwise to squander this opportunity due to short-sightedness.
Secretary LaHood answers questions about why the economy, the environment, and sense of American innovation need high-speed rail right now.
[DIPLOMATIC COURIER]: GOP leader Mitch McConnell said in response to the budget for 2012 that “we don’t have money to pay for trains and windmills.” What do you think makes high-speed rail an imperative?
[SECRETARY LAHOOD]: The population of the United States is expected to grow by more than 100 million in the next forty years. Our already overloaded transportation system won’t be able to meet that demand just by adding a lane to every highway or a runway to every airport. If we’re going to compete and win in the global economy, we have to get started now on a national high-speed passenger rail network that will lay a foundation for future growth and prosperity.”
[DIPLOMATIC COURIER]: Will it help or hurt the economy and why? How many people will be employed? Where are these people coming from and what will they do?
[SECRETARY LAHOOD]: Our investments in high-speed rail will create thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs across America. When we first announced President Obama’s historic investments in high-speed passenger rail, we received commitments from over 30 companies in the rail business to create or expand U.S. rail manufacturing should they be awarded high-speed rail contracts. Some of those companies are locating here already. Siemens is manufacturing passenger cars in Sacramento, and CAF is doing the same in Elmira, New York. In Indiana, Caterpillar/EMD is building a new locomotive assembly plant, and Steel Dynamics, Inc. is expanding an existing steel manufacturing plant.
These jobs building train cars, laying tracks, and operating trains are good-paying, middle class jobs that can’t be outsourced. And all along these corridors, private development will create even more jobs and economic growth. That’s already happening in places like Brunswick, Maine where construction workers are laying track that will provide the first rail service since the 1940s from Brunswick to Portland to Boston, and investors in the new station neighborhood have already financed new businesses and residential condos, a movie theatre, a new 60 room hotel, and a modern health clinic.”
[DIPLOMATIC COURIER]: How long until you think rail will be a viable form of transportation in America? How is high-speed rail going to change the way we travel? What do you see U.S. transportation looking like in 10 years? Why will people want to use the rail instead of their cars?
[SECRETARY LAHOOD]: In many parts of America, rail is already a viable form of transportation. Amtrak ridership is at all time highs, and has grown for 15 consecutive months. More than twice as many travelers take the train than fly between New York City and Washington, DC. In fact, the Amtrak Acela – the only high-speed rail line currently operating in America – took in $1.40 in revenue for every dollar it spent on operations last year. The American people want transportation options that allow them to avoid congestion on the highways and long lines at the airport.
In America, we pride ourselves on doing big things not just in the face of tough times, but as a way to overcome them. President Lincoln began construction of the Transcontinental Railroad during the Civil War, and President Eisenhower envisioned the interstate highway system in the aftermath of the Second World War. We built the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate Bridge during the Great Depression. President Obama’s proposal is in this same tradition: a national high-speed rail network accessible to 80 percent of Americans. During the last two years, I have traveled across the country and listened to the American peoples’ concerns. They want us to meet our responsibilities, just as our parents and grandparents met theirs. They want us to dream big and build big – to invest in tomorrow while creating jobs today.
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High Speed Rail Is Coming to America
February 27, 2011
The need for high-speed rail in the U.S. has been publicly debated since Obama declared in 2009 that he wanted to set $13 billion aside “as a down payment to jump-start a potential world-class passenger rail system and set the direction of transportation policy for the future.”
At a time when many Americans are concerned about curbing governmental spending, high-speed rail may seem like a misplaced priority. However, many, such as U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood feel we have the perfect window of opportunity to completely transform the face of U.S. transportation for the better, and we’d be unwise to squander this opportunity due to short-sightedness.
Secretary LaHood answers questions about why the economy, the environment, and sense of American innovation need high-speed rail right now.
[DIPLOMATIC COURIER]: GOP leader Mitch McConnell said in response to the budget for 2012 that “we don’t have money to pay for trains and windmills.” What do you think makes high-speed rail an imperative?
[SECRETARY LAHOOD]: The population of the United States is expected to grow by more than 100 million in the next forty years. Our already overloaded transportation system won’t be able to meet that demand just by adding a lane to every highway or a runway to every airport. If we’re going to compete and win in the global economy, we have to get started now on a national high-speed passenger rail network that will lay a foundation for future growth and prosperity.”
[DIPLOMATIC COURIER]: Will it help or hurt the economy and why? How many people will be employed? Where are these people coming from and what will they do?
[SECRETARY LAHOOD]: Our investments in high-speed rail will create thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs across America. When we first announced President Obama’s historic investments in high-speed passenger rail, we received commitments from over 30 companies in the rail business to create or expand U.S. rail manufacturing should they be awarded high-speed rail contracts. Some of those companies are locating here already. Siemens is manufacturing passenger cars in Sacramento, and CAF is doing the same in Elmira, New York. In Indiana, Caterpillar/EMD is building a new locomotive assembly plant, and Steel Dynamics, Inc. is expanding an existing steel manufacturing plant.
These jobs building train cars, laying tracks, and operating trains are good-paying, middle class jobs that can’t be outsourced. And all along these corridors, private development will create even more jobs and economic growth. That’s already happening in places like Brunswick, Maine where construction workers are laying track that will provide the first rail service since the 1940s from Brunswick to Portland to Boston, and investors in the new station neighborhood have already financed new businesses and residential condos, a movie theatre, a new 60 room hotel, and a modern health clinic.”
[DIPLOMATIC COURIER]: How long until you think rail will be a viable form of transportation in America? How is high-speed rail going to change the way we travel? What do you see U.S. transportation looking like in 10 years? Why will people want to use the rail instead of their cars?
[SECRETARY LAHOOD]: In many parts of America, rail is already a viable form of transportation. Amtrak ridership is at all time highs, and has grown for 15 consecutive months. More than twice as many travelers take the train than fly between New York City and Washington, DC. In fact, the Amtrak Acela – the only high-speed rail line currently operating in America – took in $1.40 in revenue for every dollar it spent on operations last year. The American people want transportation options that allow them to avoid congestion on the highways and long lines at the airport.
In America, we pride ourselves on doing big things not just in the face of tough times, but as a way to overcome them. President Lincoln began construction of the Transcontinental Railroad during the Civil War, and President Eisenhower envisioned the interstate highway system in the aftermath of the Second World War. We built the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate Bridge during the Great Depression. President Obama’s proposal is in this same tradition: a national high-speed rail network accessible to 80 percent of Americans. During the last two years, I have traveled across the country and listened to the American peoples’ concerns. They want us to meet our responsibilities, just as our parents and grandparents met theirs. They want us to dream big and build big – to invest in tomorrow while creating jobs today.
