When it comes to public transport, the US has always had a problem. The nation is just so big that many cross-country attempts as train and bus services end up operating below-par, but another aspect of Obama’s proposed stimulus package addresses even this, by giving $8 billion to high-speed rail investment projects aimed at building a network of transnational bullet trains.
But the problem is, once again, money. Experts say that the $8 billion promised won’t be enough to pay for even one train, much less the network espoused by the administration. So where will the money go if not to the bullet trains? Most likely to improvement of existing rail lines. While the American rail system does work, it is no where near as efficient as the Japanese, whose trains can reach speeds upwards of 220mph, while our average is somewhere between 90 and 110 mph.
A more efficient transit system relying on rail would be a great step towards relieving automobile and even airline traffic, especially in the northeast corridor where New York, Boston and Washington receive a great deal of trans-city traffic. Perhaps here, some say, it where the effort for faster trains should be concentrated.
While the $8 billion for faster trains had good intention behind it, in the end the gesture proves to be simply not enough to bring the system up to par. Should the administration have concentrated the money, or simply waited until other projects got off the ground first? Who knows how far this stimulus will get the industry, but there is little doubt that it will not do the whole job.
While the sentiment is there, we have once again encountered the problem with government acting in a way that will achieve results rather than simply seem to fulfill promises. Hopefully this is only the beginning of trans-national eco-travel, at any rate is does bode well for the distant future of bullet trains under the Obama administration.
