Talking Points 

As a fervent high speed rail fan, you know that high speed rail is at the top of the political agenda. Unfortunately, unlike you, many Americans do not have the slightest idea of what high speed rail is and what a nationwide network could do for the U.S. economy. Therefore, the American High Speed Rail Alliance has created these talking points for you to use to inform peers and educate the public on high speed rail.

In addition, we want to prepare you and other high speed rail advocates for interaction with elected officials as much as possible, so the talking points are on top and a brief description of the American High Speed Rail Alliance is below to ensure that you are fully updated on the matter and prepared to answer any questions that may arise.

High Speed Rail: What is it?

In its 2009 Vision for American High Speed Rail, the Federal Railroad Administration identified three investment goals for the Administration’s current high speed rail initiative.

• Advance new express high speed corridor services
  • operating speeds above 150 mph on primarily dedicated track
  • select corridors of 200–600 miles
• Develop emerging and regional high speed corridor services
  • operating speeds up to 90–110 mph and 110–150 mph respectively on shared and dedicated track
  • corridors of 100–500 miles
• Upgrade reliability and service on conventional intercity rail services
  • operating speeds up to 79–90 mph

High Speed Rail: Where and When?

There are 10 federally designated corridors for high speed rail, three of which are well on their way to breaking ground. Yet, before the construction begins many years of planning is involved. The research and development teams must pass the high speed rail plans for each corridor and the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) has to be completed.

The 10 designated corridors are:

• California Corridor
  • An 800 mile high speed rail network covering areas such as the Bay Area, Sacramento,
    Los Angeles and San Diego
  • San Francisco to Los Angeles breaks ground in 2012
• The Chicago Hub Network
  • Connecting a dozen of cities, including: Chicago, Milwaukee, Twin Cities, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville
• Empire Corridor
  • Over 400 miles of high speed rail covering the New York City, Albany and Buffalo areas.
• Florida Corridor
  • The network will span from Tampa and Orlando to Miami
  • Phase 1 – Tampa to Orlando to be completed 201
  • Phase 2 – Orlando to Miami
• Gulf Coast Corridor
  • Connecting different states through various cities, including: Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Birmingham, Atlanta
• Keystone Corridor
  • Over 100 miles of high speed track from Philadelphia to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh
• Northern New England Corridor
  • A high speed rail system connecting major cities including Boston, Montreal, Portland, Springfield, New Haven and Albany.
• Pacific Northwest Corridor
  • Over 460 miles of high speed rail connecting cities in the Pacific Northwest including Eugene, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• Southeast Corridor
  • High Speed Rail covering major south Atlantic cities such as Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Macon, Columbia, Savannah and Jacksonville.
• South Central Corridor
  • The South Central corridor of high speed Rail system will travel to cities including Tulsa, Oklahoma city, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Little Rock.

Other high speed rail plans in America include:

• Nevada
  • Desert Xpres
  • Victorville to Las Vegas breaks ground in 2011
• Northeast Corridor
  • Already running from Washington, DC, to Philadelphia, New York City and Boston and stopping at other large cities in between
  • Reaches maximum speed of 150 mph

High Speed Rail: What are the benefits?

Environment

• High speed rail can play a very important factor in protecting the environment:
  • Saves 6 billion pounds of CO2 annually
  • Reduces car travel by 29 million trips annually
  • Cuts air travel by nearly 500,000 flights annually
  • Takes up only 1/3 of the land used for highways
  • HSR consumes 42 percent less energy per passenger mile than intercity car travel
  • HSR consumes 30 percent less energy per passenger mile than plane travel
  • A nationwide system could reduce oil used by 125 million barrels a year

Jobs & Economy

• High speed rail positively impacts the economy in numerous ways:
  • HSR would create new green jobs and enhances the green job industry
  • Every $1 billion in HSR stimulus funding supports 20,000 jobs
  • Each HSR job supports an additional 4.5 jobs in other sectors of our economy
    • 55,000 new jobs would be created in Los Angeles by 2035
    • 20,000 new jobs would be supported in Orlando by 2035
  • Every dollar spent on HSR will stimulate $3.00 in economic activity
  • Economic value of improved mobility has been valued at $13.2 billion through 2030
  • Pulls together regional economies and promotes intra-regional business growth
  • Rejuvenates urban centers and supports walkable communities

High Speed Rail: How it is funded?

High speed rail is a worthwhile investment for the future as is proven by the dozens of countries around the world that already have high speed rail systems in place. The numerous benefits such as job creation, the increase of global competitiveness, the decrease of green house gas emissions and release of highway congestion, weigh out the financial investments that come with building 21^st century transportation.

The Obama administration has endorsed high speed rail and have proposed it a necessity to investing in it now.

• The stimulus bill provided $ 8 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009
  • $2.5 billion was enacted in 2010
  • $1 billion is requested for 2011