{"id":115679,"date":"2021-11-10T14:47:03","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T13:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=115679"},"modified":"2025-04-17T12:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T10:33:15","slug":"high-speed-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/high-speed-united-states","title":{"rendered":"High-speed rail is making inroads in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/strong>. Exactly the same speed as a hundred years ago!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automobile, financial and urban obstacles
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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<\/strong>. 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.<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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To the railways' credit, there is also the urban topology in the United States, unfavourable to rail transport<\/strong>. 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!<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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However, things are beginning to change, probably under the impetus of the<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Biden government and a infrastructure modernisation plan<\/a>. A $2 trillion plan to create a greener economy, including a rail component estimated at 80 billion dollars of investment<\/strong>. But building a truly high-speed network is likely to be a long-term undertaking, spanning several decades.<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cementing high-speed rail around Amtrak<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Amtrak<\/strong><\/a>the 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.<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Boston-New York-Washington route, 735 km long, is covered by high-speed Acela trains in 6 hours 50 minutes.<\/strong>. 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.<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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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.<\/strong>. Looking forward to that day, Amtrak to introduce a new generation of Acela trains in 2022<\/strong>They 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.<\/div>\n\n\n\n