High-speed Rail - Major Markets - Americas - United States

United States

The claim is that in the US, HSR is incompatible with the existing automobile-oriented system. (People will want to drive when traveling in city, so they might as well drive the entire trip). However, others contend that in the Northeast Corridor, many people living outside walking distance of a connection, drive to the commuter station and ride to the HSR connection, similar to the way many people drive to an airport, park their cars and then fly. Car rentals and taxis also supplement local mass transportation. Increased commercial development is also projected near the destination stations.

Chicago, with its central location and metropolitan population of approximately 10 million, was envisioned as the hub of a national high-speed rail network. The beginning Midwest phases study a Minneapolis-Milwaukee-Chicago-Detroit link; a Kansas City-St Louis-Chicago link; and a Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati-Columbus, OH link.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is currently planning lines from the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento to Los Angeles and Anaheim via the Central Valley, as well as a line from Los Angeles to San Diego via the Inland Empire. The Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation is lobbying for a high-speed rail and multimodal transportation corridor, dubbed the Texas T-Bone. The T-Bone would link Dallas and San Antonio via the South Central Corridor; from roughly the midpoint between these two cities, the Brazos Express corridor would provide a connection to Houston. New York State Senator Caesar Trunzo announced a long-term plan to bring high-speed rail service between Buffalo and New York City, via Albany, to under three hours. Florida officials considered and in 2011 rejected a Tampa-Orlando-Miami system.

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