Fast, faster, fastest: high-speed intercity passenger rail is gaining momentum in the United States. But are fast trains a smart public investment?

• Author: Rall, Jaime

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Americans love trains.

They evoke nostalgia for a golden age of industry when our cities grew up around rail lines and passenger trains were the fastest, most dependable and most luxurious way to travel.

The rise of commercial aviation and the interstates in the mid-20th century sent passenger rail into a steep decline. The nation now has only two-thirds the rail miles it had in 1916, and some passenger routes take hours longer today than they did during the Great Depression.

Fast-forward to 2009 when President Barack Obama announced his vision for high-speed, intercity passenger rail: Sleek, fast trains similar to the advanced systems in Europe and Asia that will whisk Americans hundreds of miles without the hassles of airports or highway traffic. The president's vision has captured the public's imagination, and recent boosts in federal funding for high speed rail initiatives have raised hopes that the vision will become a reality.

"The president's vision has captured the public's imagination, and recent boosts in federal funding for high-speed rail initiatives have raised hopes that the vision will become a reality," says New York Senate President Pro Tem Malcolm Smith. "Suddenly, high-speed rail is a high-profile transportation issue."

But many questions remain unanswered and the rhetoric is flying. Those who advocate passenger rail see it as an environmentally friendly and much-needed option that will transform how Americans travel. Others warn it will be an expensive boondoggle that cannot deliver on its promises. The question facing the states is whether investing in high-speed rail is smart public policy.

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SENATE PRESIDENT

PRO TEM

MALCOLM SMITH

NEW YORK

WHAT IS HIGH-SPEED RAIL?

The terra "high-speed rail" is often associated with Japanese "bullet trains" and the Train a Grande Vitesse or TGV in France, both of which travel at average speeds of more than 260 mph on some routes. In 2008, Congress defined high-speed rail more modestly as "intercity passenger rail service that is reasonably expected to reach speeds of at least 110 mph."

Today, only three routes are high-speed by this definition: the Keystone Service in Pennsylvania, the Empire Line in New York and the Acela from New York to Washington, D.C. Even these trains attain high speed only on small portions of track.

Unlike more advanced systems around the world, which run on grade-separated, dedicated tracks, American passenger trains almost always share track with slower freight trains and also contend with curving tracks, old signaling systems and other obstacles.

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FEDERAL POLICY

Since World War II, federal transportation investment has focused on highways and aviation. Unlike those modes, passenger rail has no dedicated revenue source or trust fund. And the discrepancy between rail and highway investment is striking. From 1990 to 2007, Congress provided $4.17 billion for high-speed rail development. In contrast, federal-aid highways received more than nine times that amount more than $39 billion--in 2007 alone.

Since 1992, 10 "high-speed rail corridors" have been federally designated, based on their potential for development. They are in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas-Oklahoma and New York, as well as the...