I am currently writing this article on a high speed train from Totnes to London in the United Kingdom. As an American that has lived most of his life in car-centric cities such as Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix, using a train for long distance travel is always a delight. In terms of comfort of travel, it is better than planes and cars in almost every way.
During train journeys, you don’t have to worry about stopping for gas, snacks, or restrooms like traveling in a car, and the need for focus is nothing compared to driving. While plane travel is faster than trains, trains are much cheaper, and it is much easier to entertain yourself on a train due to a non-reliance on airplane wifi or entertainment offerings. Additionally, train travel is so efficient. One only needs to arrive at a train station 5-10 minutes before the departure time to load up and begin your journey. It is that simple.
While I can continue on and on about the comforts of train travel, the biggest benefits of train travel are access, energy efficiency, and unclogging cities.
When talking about travel access, many points can be made about price access, but it also includes logistical accessing – getting to nearby cities for business or leisure. The map above was presented by Vox magazine showing a potential US high speed rail system throughout the US. The time projections are amazing. Imagine paying $150 for a 6 hour trip to Atlanta. Would be so sick for those like me with a travel bug.
Many critics of US high speed rail cite our lack of infrastructure; however, much of the infrastructure actually exists. Comprehensive passenger rail is widely used on the East Coast, and Amtrak services every major city in the US. The current issue with Amtrak is that it can take 24 hours to go from Washington, DC to Houston, where on the high speed rail, it may only take 10-12.
High speed rail could allow more Americans to have access to other parts of the United States, for cheaper. Additionally, China built the world’s largest high speed rail system in less than a decade with virtually no passenger rail network. So, building this infrastructure is possible, and can be done quickly.
Another major benefit to high speed rail is energy usage, or how climate friendly passenger rail can be. Everyone has some sort of idea on how bad for the environment passenger planes are; however, it is currently the most efficient way for Americans to travel long distances.
While most of the world’s passenger trains run on diesel fuel, the United Kingdom has electrified half of its passenger rail. While most of the electrification is done with natural gas, strides in renewable and nuclear energy will eventually phase out natural gas and allow long distance travel to be extraordinarily climate friendly. This is not even a potential hope; this is happening in Europe and can be replicated in the United States.
Finally, high speed rail can help unclog cities. Unclogging cities means decongesting traffic and clearing densely populated areas. In cities like Houston and Phoenix, suburbs can be expanded along rail routes, allowing commuters to take high speed rail into the downtown areas for work. This will take more auto-commuters off of the road, and potentially encourage more people to move out of high-density, expensive areas and live in cheaper, more rural or suburban areas with a similar or smaller commute time.
For high density cities with comprehensive public transportation like New York or Chicago, high speed rail can expand suburbs and relieve some of the extreme population density found in those areas, which in turn helps with rising costs of living and crime rates.
These are just a few of the major benefits that can be created by high speed rail, and these ideas are purely mine. If readers are interested in a more research oriented, official paper on the benefits of high speed rail, I would be more than willing to provide one.