Democratic Party's train fiasco rolls on

John Pritchett

Kansas City Star:

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has said that high speed rail could soon be a major mode of transportation in the U.S.

High-speed rail was hailed as the future of transportation in the United States at a conference this week. There have been multiple proposals for high-speed rail in the United States over the years, but none have yet been built. 

Construction began last month on the country's first high-speed rail line, linking Las Vegas and southern California. The company building the route has predicted that trains will be running in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. 

And in the coming years, similar high-speed rail routes could allow people to travel between major cities across the U.S. without having to drive or fly to their destinations. 

In December, President Joe Biden's administration announced more than $8 billion in funding for 10 passenger rail projects including for "the first world-class, high-speed rail projects in our country's history." 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the administration's investments mean his children may "never know a world without high-speed rail" in the U.S. "Our twins are 2 and a half years old. I was on drop-off duty this morning and they have begun....asking me about my work," he said at the U.S. High-Speed Rail annual conference in Washington D.C. this week. 

"I tell them I work on cars, that I work on planes and that I work on trains, and I'm working on making those trains go faster. And one of the things I really love is the thought that they're 2 and a half now, and if we hit our marks, they will never know a world without high-speed rail in the United States."

At the conference, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said high-speed rail routes would also help solve problems to do with housing and other issues: 

"One of the biggest challenges in our country, at the kitchen table, because of cost, is housing, housing, housing," she said. "All over the country. Mass transit and high-speed rail is an answer to that." She added: "If you're talking clean air, this is an answer. If you're talking about a measure of job creation, this is an answer. Any subject you can bring up from environmental protection to, you name it, high-speed rail and mass transit is an answer to it." 

Advocates say high-speed rail would reduce pollution, fuel consumption and cut traffic if people are able to ride the trains instead of driving or flying. They also say it would create many jobs in the construction phase and afterward.

Opponents often cite the massive costs associated with it. U.S. High-Speed Rail CEO Andy Kunz said the recent federal investments are "a huge boost" to bringing high-speed rail to the U.S.: 

"But let's not kid ourselves. We're going to need hundreds of billions of dollars and major policy reforms to develop a high-speed rail network worthy of our great country," Kunz said. "The U.S. High-Speed Rail Association and our growing advocacy coalition are laser-focused on addressing these challenges and seizing the historic opportunities before us."

See also Unions are the powerhouse behind California’s troubled bullet train: They only care about jobs for their members and The San Francisco connection: $6 billion tunnel to get $100 billion train to $2 billion bus station.

And this High-speed rail? Oh no, Joe!