Posts tagged ‘Rail’
Are You High On Speed…Rail?
Matt Barcus
President, Precision Executive Search, Inc
Managing Partner, CivilEngineeringCentral.com
View Matt’s profile & connect with him on LinkedIn
It’s been quite some time since I have touched on this subject, so at the risk of “beating a dead horse,” here I go again!
Have you ever known anyone who has traveled via high-speed rail? Have you actually experienced High Speed Rail yourself? At the very least you have recently read about it or heard about it on the news. I have never personally experienced it myself, but I’ve read enough about it and viewed enough videos to know that I am very excited about what the future holds. I have also spoken to folks who have actually traveled on High Speed Rail and the reviews were glowing!
Imagine blowing up a balloon; you’ve populated the balloon with enough air that is appears to be at full capacity, but maybe you want it a little bit bigger, so you put two more breaths into it. It’s good. It hasn’t popped, so you put two more breaths in. It’s now stretched pretty thin, but maybe the kids are chanting, “Bigger! Bigger! Bigger!” You push your luck one more time and in the middle of your next breath….POP! As I write, our highways and airspace are pretty much maxed out when it comes to capacity, and as our population grows and our economy inches its way back into growth mode the constraints will be even heavier. In fact, on Monday CNN reported the following from the FAA:
If we fail to truly embrace High Speed Rail our infrastructure will share the same results as the balloon.
Last week Joe Biden announced a comprehensive plan that would allow for 80% of our hard-working population to have access to High Speed Rail by 2035 and has committed to $53 billion over six years. Check out what the US High Speed Rail Association’s vision of what a national High Speed Rail system would look like:
The build out of High Speed Rail lines is a lengthy process; the environmental planning and reports, the public meetings, more reports, more meetings, and one of the most, if not THE most sophisticated engineering and construction processes in the world requires much patience. Of course the longer the discussion gets hung up in DC the even longer this will take. As the United States continues to talk about High Speed Rail, the other countries on our globe continue to stay one step ahead of us. I personally am not concerned about competing with other countries because at the end of the day I think the US rocks! But all this talk over the years surrounding High Speed Rail, and the limited action is getting old – the advantages of High Speed Rail, as you and I both know, are enormous:
*Job creation
*Increased opportunities for employment due to easy access between cities
*A reduction in carbon emissions
*A national HSR system could reduce oil consumption by 125 bbl / year (according to Environment America)
*Reduce the stress already on existing, over-capacity infrastructure
*Ability to text message and check Facebook on phone without having to lookup for oncoming traffic 🙂
Look, the list goes on and on as to the advantages, no doubt. A couple of years ago I wondered if people would really be able to give up their connections to their cars on a daily basis. The convenience they provide; the status they may show, etc. But I think with all the studies that have been compiled, and the horrible recession that we have recently passed through, that particular mentality has passed its prime. The development of true High Speed Rail has begun in FL and CA and significant investments have already been made in those regions. May the rest of our country follow in their footsteps…let’s get this show on the road, or shall I say, on the rail!
So, are you high on speed…rail? I know I am and I would love to hear your thoughts – especially from anyone who may be against this type of innovation in our country…
Thanks for reading!
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Transit, Rail & SkyTran?
By Carol Metzner
President, The Metzner Group, LLC and
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
February’s stimulus plan has the US poised to put $8 billion into upgrading our rail network and developing high-speed rail “corridors.” Half of the articles I read support theses rail initiatives; the other half criticize them. As far as I understand, most of the criticism centers on the belief that $8 billion, even supplemented with additional stimulus monies, is not enough to have a true high speed rail like our UK counterparts. For example, the California high speed rail is estimated at over $40 billion. BUT, we have to start somewhere. For all the technologies that the US leads the world in, highspeed rail isn’t one of them! We need to fund the high speed rail initiatives. We can’t afford to wait.
If you are one of the anti-Rail people, why are you? Tell us your thoughts.
So, this brings me to my next question: Do you see SkyTran making a US hit in the next decade? SkyTran is described as “lightweight two-passenger vehicles suspended from elevated passive magnetic levitation tracks…expected to achieve the equivalent of over 200 miles per gallon fuel economy at 100 miles per hour or faster.”
If we can’t get folks on board with high speed rail, then does anyone actually think the US would invest in a patented personal rapid transit. Will we ever see a “Jetsons” type of world in transportation?
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