High Speed Rail in the United State
4.1 Background of high speed rail in United States
Northeast Corridor (NEC) is the busiest railway line in the North America. It has 457 mile railway line, which starts from the Boston and ends at the Washington, D.C. It is primarily owned by Amtrak, which is the government-owned corporation and the systems in the NEC are fully electrified in order to stay competitive compared to the other modes of transportation. In 1990, Amtrak implemented the NECHSR Improvement Program by introducing Acela Express train. Besides, the HSR improvement program also enhances the rail components and equipment, such as rebuilt the bridges, modified the railway curve and electrified the track. In 2012, Amtrak decided to upgrade
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Therefore, investing in rail project can boost the economic development by providing estimately 24,000 jobs for each billion dollars of investment. (David Randall Peterman, 2013) Besides, building the high speed rail in US can also reduce the energy consumption as well as carbon emission. Based on the California High Speed Rail Authority (2016), HSR only consumes one-third the energy of air travel and one-fifth the energy of automobile travel. The most important is adopting the HSR can mitigate the congestion problem in the US. The cost of congestion on the highway and runway, which approximate $130 billion per year and the increasing population in the next 40 years for increasing over 100 million people in the US make the government start to pay attention to the importance of the development of the HSR …show more content…
According to United States Conference of Mayors (2001), the investment in high speed rail in the United States will significantly stimulate the economic growth, job creation, business activities as well as the development of sustainable transit alternative service in the 4 major cities of United State, which namely Los Angeles, Orlando Florida, Chicago and also Albany in New York State. The United States Conference of Mayors also estimated that the high speed rail project will bring up about $2.5billion per year in the new business income, 21000 new jobs created and $1.1 billion in new wages to the Albany. Whereas, for Florida High Speed Rail Program, the high speed rail line will be built between Orlando and Tampa which able to carry the passengers at the speed up to 168mph. This railway system estimated can make $2.9 billion of new business sales, create 27500 new jobs and $1.2billion in new wages to the workforce. (United State Conference of Mayors,
Despite the proliferation of horsecar transportation in the late nineteenth century, the Ocean Beach area remained disparate from the bulk of San Francisco residents. The recreational opportunities of Ocean Beach, Harbor View, and Sutro’s Cliff House attracted the need for a transportation solution. The Sutter Street Railroad was the first company to attempt steam dummy service to this section for San Francisco in 1877. The route connected horsecar service at Broadway and Polk streets to a steam dummy that took riders to Harbor View, but its location, remote from the many amusements of the beach, caused it to be unsuccessful.
In 1864 Congress approved the Northern Pacific Railway to be built. The NPR is the first transcontinental railroad in the northern part of the country. It is 8,316 miles long, beginning in Minnesota and ending in Washington state, with many branches going off the main line. When congress approved it they also supplied nearly 40million acres of land grants to build the railroad on. Construction didn 't go underway until 1870, and the rail road was finally christened to open on Sept. 8 1888.
In the map below, retrieved from Wikipedia, this is illustrated. This connection route was over 10,000 miles long, it stretched over 13 states. Its size was extremely important for its time, it was one of the first. It had 75 locomotives, 2000 freight cars, and 100 passenger carts. It offered more than $30 million in assets.
He explains that the goal of the project is to generate economic benefits ($31.5 billion) and to allow more freight trains to traverse the city smoothly, benefitting the nation due to Chicago’s position as the intermediary between railway transactions. The author discusses the importance operative infrastructure in keeping the city running. He references a splintering stretch of rail on the 75th street corridor, utilised by freight and commuter trains. Consequently, Sanburn emphasises the importance of verbal communication between the Belt Railway of Chicago (BRC) and the ‘CSX’ railroad that crosses BRC’s lines to ensure that no clashes occur. Sanburn stresses that communication systems do not reduce traffic, as trains must obtain approval from the BRC prior to transit.
There have been steam engine trains trailing the United States in the early 1800’s. Many of the early ones ran only a few dozen miles. When the railways ran longer distances, the cost to build and later ride them were be extremely high. However, long distances were what Minnesota needed to keep up with the competitive and growing nation around it. “Construction began on the first track in 1861 in St. Paul and was completed in 1862.”
Railroads allow for the movement of goods and people conveniently and quickly with few delays as compared to other modes of transportation. Cars and planes did not exist in the late 19th century and trains were astronomically important for the success of cities in the United States. While other forms of transportation fill the void that existed in the past, the efficiency of those modes of transport will keep declining over time as more cars hit the road and planes take off. Trains can be indefinitely expanded since it does not have to share its space with other vehicles. Railroads have paved the way for industrial America and will continue to as long as people and goods need to be
The Transcontinental Railroad The completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad was an important event in the United States history. There were many challenges in building it, but after it was finished, it connected the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast. The railroad took three whole years to build, with the help of two railroad companies and thousands of other hired workers.
Transcontinential Railroad had a huge impact on the Native Ameriacans, Society and the Environment. Here is one example of how the Native Americans were impacted: Some of the hardships they faced were very little food, only ate once during their working hours. They worked long hours for very little money, and they had ages 10 and up working. Transcontinential Railroad helped the society grow with the transportation it provided. It replaced wagon trains of previous decades which became usless.
The Transcontinental Railroad and the Interstate Highway System were not only the two biggest contributions in the history of transportation in the United States but are tremendously similar to each other in how they were built. Both systems were built in times of extremely desperate need of a way of transportation across the country which made them such big advantages to American society. The two systems have been majorly significant tools in the history the United States as well as modern day life. Something that the two topics share is the fact that they were both built during times of great change in the nation and had difficulties in funding.
When the railroad was first laid in Nebraska; Omaha acted as the headquarters. From 1860 to 1870 Nebraska’s population rose 326 percent (Olson et al. 158). While Denver experienced its own growth in the 1870’s and eventually had four separate railroads within the city (Abbott et al. 73). Railroad cities became the central hubs connecting the economy of the West to the economy of the
One of the first solutions is the governments should create measures, such as make streetcar that is an energy saving and promote other transit systems, like bicycles or eco-friendly electric cars. In fact, the train and the streetcar are the most eco-friendly vehicles, because these produced lower CO2 emissions than cars and air plane. In Europe, twenty cities in 11countries are using these eco-friendly vehicles. Therefore, European people are actively working on decrease the environmental problems. If Hawaiian people use these eco-friendly vehicles, people will be stress reliever of the traffic congestion as well.
For twenty years after the Gold Rush, Americans in California felt extremely remote from the rest of the United States. The early Forty-Niners of the California Gold Rush wishing to come to California were faced with limited options. Some options included sailing around South America from the Atlantic which could take up to eight months or travel by land but that came with many dangers as well. The railroads helped establish countless towns and settlements, it paved the way to abundant mineral deposits and fertile tracts of pastures and farmland, and created new markets for eastern goods. For many, the dream of a transcontinental railroad symbolized all sorts of hopes for better things.
Regional & Economic Growth Assessment The North and South were both different and similar in how they operated. They were mostly based on the categories of transportation, agriculture, geography/climate, labor/industry, and society during the early 1800’s. These categories decided how much the North and South would progress as the country continued to grow. Geography/Climate In the North, they had all the four seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer.
The Tremendous Impact of Railroads on America In the late 19th century, railroads propelled America into an era of unprecedented growth, prosperity, and convenient transportation. Prior to the building of the railroads, America lacked the proper and rapid transportation to make traveling across the country economical or practical. Lengthy travel was often cumbersome, costly, and dangerous.
According to Stuart Moulder, “Prior to the last spike being driven in 1869, the only ways to get from coast to coast of the United States were a months long journey by foot, horseback or (very expensive) carriage” (Moulder). This means that the railroad was not only a new way of transportation, but also a new way of life. To put things into perspective, an article