From SF examiner: From energy, environmental, safety standpoint, rapid rail could yield biggest bang for buck

Link: From energy, environmental, safety standpoint, rapid rail could yield biggest bang for buck

From energy, environmental, safety standpoint, rapid rail could yield biggest bang for buck
July 5, 1:36 PM


AP Photo/Kyodo News. East Japan Railway Company's new E5 Bullet Train beginning testing on June 15, '09.

I’m not a gambler. This could explain why I’m neither rich nor poor. But there is one bet I wouldn’t hesitate to place and that would be on high- speed rail.

But, all bets may be off if we don’t get rapid rail in this country and get it soon. There is $8 billion of stimulus money available, primarily, it seems, for two high-speed rail projects: the Midwest regional HSR initiative which has Chicago as the hub with lines radiating out in several directions and the North-South California High-Speed Train network linking San Francisco and Sacramento with Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego. Other potential high-speed rail routes have been identified as well.

What makes this type of transportation a sure thing is its track record. It simply can’t be beat for safety, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency!

Electrically powered high-speed trains, besides being quick, are quiet, comfortable, reliable and safe. Speaking of safety records, HSR is one of the safest – period. Credited with forty-five years of active operations, accidents involving high-speed trains have been rare. One in Germany in 1998 was attributed to mechanical failure when a wheel fractured and disintegrated.

From Wikipedia via the List of Rail Disasters there are these four. There may be others.

A crash in Spain in 2002 occurred when trains collided. Another was due to an earthquake (Japan, 2004). A third resulted from a bridge washout caused by heavy rains (Italy, 2005). And one, on a maglev line, involved the train striking a railway maintenance truck (Germany, 2006).

Operational parameters

High-speed trains operate on their own dedicated tracks with no interference from vehicle traffic. There are no intersections with roadways – all vehicle/pedestrian traffic is carried over or directed under high-speed rail lines much like what exists with interstate highways. Express trains run around or bypass non-express trains at intermediate stations and perhaps other places via run-around or bypass tracks and trains are computer-controlled to maintain reliability and efficiency. Running in territories where distances are between 50 and 1,000 miles, HSR is ideal. And, yes, trains traverse the countryside between metropolitan stops on many corridors in many locales, which may be difficult for some people not familiar with HSR to visualize. Such would be the case with the California high-speed rail system once built and operational.

'No better investment'

When it comes to transportation endeavors, I see no better investment than in rail, high-speed rail in particular.

That being said, I have trouble understanding why it has taken us so long to figure out what the Asians and Europeans have understood and valued and found value in, for so long. Rapid rail will find a home in the U.S. It’s now a question of where and when. High-speed rail is absolutely something we should be able to bank on someday.