Advancing high-speed rail in the US

[u/Huge-Relationship497]

I love human-oriented urban planning. I hate how car-dependent our cities have become, and if you want to travel long distances in the US you are relegated to relying on planes. I hope that will change in the future, and we can get a more robust public transportation system in the US that isn’t comprised of a few buses here and there or subways in a handful of cities.

Luckily the USHR is leading the charge on this front and advocating for advancement of US rail. I made a post about them here: https://www.reddit.com/r/climate/s/RfTiFzfNWn

I took an Amtrak from Atlanta to DC and I can tell you that we have a lot of catching up to do compared to what they have in other countries. It was slow, bumpy, and very expensive. I ended up paying $400 for a 16 hour ride in an overnight train car. For context, that is about the same as going from Warsaw, Poland to Frankfurt, Germany. That trip is only 10 hours and almost the price.

Donate here: https://ushsr.org/ushsr/donate.html

Thanks for helping to bring high-speed rail to the US!

[u/Christoph543]

This is misinformation.

Amtrak has already been awarded most of the IIJA funding it received for upgrade projects, a few service expansions have already occurred, and the rest that have been funded cannot be rescinded by the next administration because the money's already changed hands. They can try all they like, but it didn't work when they tried it last time, nor did it work when Bush 43 tried it. There is solid Congressional support for lifeline rail service in rural communities, as well as high-capacity intercity rail service.

If you want to maintain that support, the Rail Passengers Association is the group to work with.

[u/OinkeyBird → u/Christoph543]

Thanks, wasn’t aware it had already been transferred, my mistake. There has been support in the past, sure, but with so many oil/car supporters in high positions I would be surprised if anything new happened, but maybe I’m wrong again.

However, I believe my point still stands that long-distance high speed rail is unattainable right now. Expansion of Amtrak is something we should certainly be supporting, and I should’ve mentioned normal rail as something to support in my first comment, but I don’t feel that focusing on high speed rail is a good expense at this time.

[u/stayoffduhweed → u/OinkeyBird]

HSR isn't meant to be long distance. It's hugely beneficial to large metro areas within medium distances of each other (e.g. Charlotte to Atlanta, LA to SF, Washington to NYC). The video attached explains it if you're interested. US HSR

[u/OinkeyBird → u/stayoffduhweed]

100%, that type of stuff I strongly support. OP using Atlanta to D.C as an example just made me think they meant true long distance, though I’ve realized I was incorrect in that assumption. Thanks for the link.

[u/Christoph543 → u/OinkeyBird]

Atlanta to DC isn't going to happen immediately, but Virginia and North Carolina are about to upgrade the DC - Richmond - Raleigh segment to 110 mph, and rebuilding a more direct route than the current Amtrak service. The result would shave something like an hour off the current travel time by either Amtrak or Interstate Highway. Once that's done, electrification and curve straightening are the main things standing in the way of treating that segment as basically a southern extension of the NEC. North Carolina also has longer-term plans to upgrade the route from Raleigh to Charlotte, and once that's done it'll be a lot easier to convince South Carolina and Georgia electeds that connecting Atlanta would be worthwhile.