Special report: the adventures of high-speed rail around the world

High-speed rail is making inroads in the United States

The high-speed rail network is often only at the planning stage in many parts of the United States. However, the Biden investment plan should stimulate the construction of new high-speed lines. The first concrete results are expected around 2028.
By Luc Citrinot -
The new Acela models being tested (Photo: copyright Amtrak)

It was an angry tweet from an American internet user in December 2019. He highlighted the fact that 35 high-speed trains cover the distance between Beijing and Shanghai every day in 4.5 hours. And that, by comparison, on the Chicago to New York line (which has almost the same mileage), there was one daily train covering the route in... 19 hours. On Chicago-New York, as on many other US rail lines, trains travel at less than 130 km/h. Exactly the same speed as a hundred years ago!

Automobile, financial and urban obstacles

In fact, the United States is still lagging far behind in the development of a high-speed network. Many factors contribute to this: resistance to public spending, aviation lobbies and Americans' immoderate love of their car. Added to this is a rail network designed more for long-distance freight transport than for passenger transport. Since the 1950s, the railways have given way to a motorway network of almost 81,000 km.
 
To the railways' credit, there is also the urban topology in the United States, unfavourable to rail transport. Large cities are not generally centres of life, with a majority of Americans living in the suburbs. According to a 2017 American Housing Survey census, 52 % of Americans describe their place of residence as suburban, while 27 % place it in an urban area and 21 % in a rural area. Getting to a train station can therefore be more complicated than getting to the airport!
 
However, things are beginning to change, probably under the impetus of the
Biden government and a infrastructure modernisation plan. A $2 trillion plan to create a greener economy, including a rail component estimated at 80 billion dollars of investment. But building a truly high-speed network is likely to be a long-term undertaking, spanning several decades.

Cementing high-speed rail around Amtrak

Amtrakthe American public rail network, could form the basis of a future TGV network. Except that on most of these tracks, freight and passenger trains run side by side, preventing any appreciable increase in speed.
 
The Boston-New York-Washington route, 735 km long, is covered by high-speed Acela trains in 6 hours 50 minutes.. That's an average of 85 km/h. While trains can indeed reach a peak speed of 240 km/h, the infrastructure prevents them from doing so. In a document, the Northeast Corridor Commission (NCC), which is in charge of modernising the network between now and 2035, estimates that Acela trains can actually reach their top speed by 51 km.
 
The NCC will have to invest 117 billion dollars to modernise the network and reduce total travel time on the Boston-Washington route by almost an hour.. Looking forward to that day, Amtrak to introduce a new generation of Acela trains in 2022They are slightly faster, more environmentally friendly (they are 40% lighter) and, above all, more comfortable. A USB port on each seat, wifi, better catering and the option of booking via an app should have an incentive effect on potential passengers.
 
At the same time, the government wants to modernise the New York to Montreal, New York to Buffalo and Toronto and Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Trains on these three sections would travel at between 145 km/h and 200 km/h.
Brightline continues to expand in Florida and between Las Vegas and Southern California (Photo: Brightline)

California dreamin'

But it will be California, which is set to be the site of the first truly high-speed rail line in the United States. Trains on a line linking San Francisco to Los Angeles via San Jose, Fresno and Bakersfield would travel at a speed of 350 km/hour this 830 km corridor. The two metropolises would then be just 2 hours 45 minutes apart by train. At the same time, a new line will be built linking Phoenix and Tucson, serving 15 stations over a 140-mile network.

Until now, the project has been at a standstill due to a lack of funding. A single 190 km section is currently under construction, linking Bakersfield and Merced via Fresno.. From San Francisco, trains would temporarily resume their snail's pace to San Francisco.

The approval of the Biden infrastructure plan by Congress on 5 November should enable California to receive an additionalsome thirty billion dollars to complete its high-speed network. This would mean accelerating the rail routes to Los Angeles to the south and San Jose/San Francisco to the north. The high-speed line is scheduled for completion in 2025, with train trials scheduled for completion by 2027 for a commissioning between 2028 and 2029.

After 2030, two extensions are planned, the first towards Sacramentothe second towards San Diego. It would make it possible to serve all California's major cities by TGV in less than five hours from end to end.

Another project - this time entirely private - is likely to be the the first TGV line in the American West to become operational: the Las Vegas-Victor Valley in Southern California. Led by private rail operator BrightLine (which already operates a route in Florida), the 270 km line would be served in an average of 1 hour 25 minutes (i.e. 180 km/h). With the possibility of a branch line to Los Angeles and Palmdale. Inauguration is scheduled for around 2025.

Florida and Texas, the future at high speed

In Florida, BrightLine operates a Miami-West Palm Beach route, to be extended to Orlando and Disneyland in 2023. With an average speed of 130 km/h, which will rise to 200 km/h on the Cocoa-Orlando route once the line is inaugurated. According to the International Union of Railways (UIC), this train does not qualify as a high-speed train. The UIC defines a TGV as a train travelling at 200 kph on an existing line and 250 kph on a new line.

High-speed rail project in Texas (Texas High Speed Rail graphic)

Finally, at Texasthe Houston-Dallas high-speed line takes shape. Serving a catchment area of 13 million people, it is expected to handle more than 6 million passengers a year by 2029. High-speed trains will cover the 380 km separating the two megacities in 90 minutes. This compares with an average of more than four hours by car. A powerful argument!

Special report: the adventures of high-speed rail around the world

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