High Speed Rail
Streetsblog LA
Department of Energy Gets Basic Math Wrong in its Rail Analysis
When it comes to the carbon consumption of cars, trains, and buses, the
U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) Transportation Energy Data Book [PDF] is an indispensable resource. But this year's Data Book contains an eyebrow-raising error in its analysis of rail's energy use.
September 11, 2009
High Speed Rail Authority Says Ruling Won’t Affect Timeline or Funding
A
Sacramento judge ruled this week that the California High Speed Rail
Authority failed to provide an adequate description of the San Francisco to Los Angeles high speed train
project in its Environmental Impact Report. Critics of the project
hailed it as an important victory, but the fine print of the decision
may leave less room for their celebration, as the court rejected
contentions about the project's route, biological impacts, and ability
to induce sprawl in the Central Valley.
August 28, 2009
Another Defense of High Speed Rail
Today on the Streetsblog Network, we’ve got a post from Yonah Freemark at The Transport Politic on the importance of funding both intercity and intracity rail, despite limits on the amount of money available. Freemark takes on the argument that investment in transportation within cities should trump the construction of more efficient rail connections between … Continued
August 27, 2009
Momentum Builds for CA High Speed Rail
Now that the first round of applications to the federal government for the $8 billion in High Speed Rail which means it's more than past time to make the case that California deserves more than its share of those funds. California has two applications in to the the USDOT for two segments of the project that should eventually connect San Francisco to San Diego.
August 25, 2009
The Washington Post Features High Speed Rail Hack Job
This is the big problem with Ed Glaeser's New York Times posts purporting to analyze the costs and benefits of a high speed rail system.
August 24, 2009
Senate Panel Backs $1.2B for High Speed Rail, $1.4B Extra For Highways
The Senate panel in charge of transportation spending has just released its version of the budget bill that passed the House last week, giving less to high-speed rail and more to highways than the lower chamber of Congress.
July 29, 2009
The High-Speed Rail Numbers Game: Is $13 Billion and 110 MPH Enough?
High-speed rail is one of the Obama administration's most prized policy goals, with $13 billion getting earmarked in the coming year alone to help break ground on up to 11 proposed regional corridors. But what will the U.S. get for its money? A lively Senate hearing yesterday attempted to answer that question.
June 24, 2009
“Shovel Ready” High Speed Rail? CA Is Ahead of the Game
Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden, met with governors from eight different states that are competing for High Speed Rail funding. Streetsblog's D.C. Correspondent wrote a story about the national implications of the meeting available at our New York site. While neither Schwarzenegger nor another representative from California was present, there was good news for California. From today's Times,
June 4, 2009
Getting Real About High-Speed Rail
Today on the Streetsblog Network, member blog Worldchanging has an interview on the future of American transportation with Nancy Kete, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and the managing director of EMBARQ, the WRI's Center for Transport and the Environment.
June 3, 2009
Is the Obama Administration Poised to Push Transit?
While President Barack Obama promoted wind power and cap-and-trade legislation, VP Joe Biden spent Earth Day talking up transit. Public radio's "The Takeaway"
reports that Biden held a presser at a bus maintenance facility in
Landover, Maryland, to tout a $300 million investment in hybrid buses
and other municipal vehicles as part of the federal stimulus package.
Said Biden:
April 24, 2009