Report Outline

Alternative Transportation: High Speed Rail in the USA
[RL] Introduction
Growing transportation demand
>population growth
>income growth
Current transportation modes
>Airplanes: intercity travel
>Private vehicles (cars and trucks): intercity and intracity travel

>>Highway, road congestion
>>Environmental concerns: carbon/pollution emissions, pavement, noise.
>>Social concerns: inequitable access to mobility, alienation from surroundings, traffic accidents.
Popular alternatives
>Biking: intracity travel
>Bus Rapid Transit: intracity travel
>High speed trains: intercity travel, freight
>>Basic definition, brief history, technologies (maglev), current distribution
[RL] Europe
>Single European Railway Area – White Paper 2011
>>Germany, France
>>Funding: public-private?
>>Estimated costs & benefits
>>>Costs: construction & maintenance, habitat disturbance, less privacy in travel, etc.
>>>Benefits: carbon emissions, timesaving, convenience, comfort, low passenger cost, decrease in congestion, new infrastructure, etc.
[KW] USA
>Differences:
>>Spatial: land mass, urban densities/sprawl
>>Economic: focus on upfront costs rather than long-term benefits; capital profit-driven incentives; low gas prices, well-established international highway system.
>>Social: emphasis on individual freedom and privacy; little value on collective public goods such as mass transit.
>American Recovery and Reinvestment Act High-Speed and Inter-city Passenger Rail program – since 2009
>>Basic outline of goals, planned corridors.
>>Current status: funding, planning, construction, public reaction.
[Both] Conclusion
>Summary of challenges and opportunities in development of HSR in USA
>Global direction overall towards more HSR