Part 1 - is high-speed rail the magic bullet (train)?
This is the first of a multi-part series on the history and current state of passenger rail in the United States. I had originally hoped to publish the first part some time ago, but research, chasing photos and writing took longer than expected. Today being National Train Day, however, I decided this would be a good time to kick things off. I hope to publish a diary each Saturday over the next several weeks.
I first saw the graphic below as a Facebook meme back on March 8, posted by a group called Go Left. I clicked the "like" button with some reservations — I agreed with the sentiment at the bottom of the page, arguing the United States could "put Americans back to work and improve our economy at the same time" by "rebuild(ing) our antique infrastructure."
But I was a little put off by the photo of an Amtrak GE-P42 "Genesis" locomotive — a conventional diesel-electric locomotive — juxtaposed with high-speed train sets. It's an apples to oranges comparison.
One of these things is not like the others.
Then, last month, a diary was published here which made the rec list and became one of the most shared diaries of the day, with the breathless title (exclamation point included!) Amazing photos show us why the American transportation network has fallen off the rails! It included the same graphic, with the language at the bottom changed to read: "Hi-Speed Rail Around the World in 2014." Another graphic was included in the diary showing a phalanx of Chinese high-speed trains contrasted, again, with a photo of an Amtrak GE-P42 locomotive hauling a string of Superliner cars. The text above the Chinese high-speed rail photo read "The mind-boggling picture is a hi-speed rail yard in China. These bullet trains move at over 300 km an hour!" The text above the Amtrak train photo read "The train below is an American passenger train that moves at 1950's speed! This photo contrast shows how far behind America has fallen."
Next up was a Midday Open Thread entry in the first week of April with the derisive heading "American exceptionalism again — Fast new U.S. trains still slow." (There was an equally derisive reference in the headline: "High-speed trains (ahem)." That linked to a WIRED article about the new Charger passenger locomotives being built by Siemens USA for several states' regional passenger rail systems.
The final straw came in comments following a Think Progress post about the Chargers. Many of the commenters derided the new locomotives, advocating for all-new high-speed trains riding on all-new high-speed infrastructure.
It has long been fashionable on the right to attack all passenger rail as being the product of a bygone era, a relic of our pioneer past best left in the ashpit of history. But in a rush to embrace high-speed rail, it apparently has now become fashionable on the left to bash conventional intercity passenger rail in exactly the same way. In commenting on the aforementioned diary, for example, I was flamed for pointing out that Amtrak's current equipment is capable of top speeds of 110 mph, and upgrading existing rail infrastructure to accommodate that speed would be relatively easy and inexpensive. The gist of the comments flaming me (and another commenter who defended Amtrak's Acela service) was that 110 mph was laughably slow, and I'm a fool for thinking achieving that speed is a worthwhile goal. The same tone permeated the Midday Open Thread piece, as well as the WIRED blog post it linked to — that new locomotives being built for corridor services throughout the U.S. are laughable because they're "only" capable of going 125 mph.
Such derision from the left bothers me, because it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how passenger rail networks work and what the state of technology here and in other countries is. It's also decidedly unhelpful for three reasons: it ignores the fact the United States is already experiencing a renaissance in passenger rail; it is dismissive of the efforts of a lot of individuals, governments, organizations and corporate citizens to keep that renaissance going and expand upon it; and in doing both of the above, it plays into the right's opposition to passenger rail.
This series of diaries aims to change that. Follow me below the Southern Pacific Daylight Orange flourish to learn more.
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