You know that song, right?
The one by the Black-Eyed Peas, where they keep asking where the love is.
“Where is the Love”—That’s what it’s called.
But I’m asking a different question.
Where is the rail?
It might be the most enduring (and aggravating) question in urban planning in the United States, causing urbanists to pull their hair out in frustration as one of the most efficient forms has passed the U.S. by.
That’s because high-speed rail has proven itself as one of the most desirable transportation options in the modern world. It’s safe, efficient, and comfortable. You don’t have to actively pilot a car or get stopped by traffic jams in a bus, serenely zipping by the landscape as you reach your destination in record time.
If it works like it’s supposed to, rail is the best way to travel. You’ve got dining cars and large seats, breathtaking views outside of car windows, and even WiFi (though I wouldn’t depend on Amtrak WiFi).
So if HSR (high-speed rail) is so great, then… where is it?
Throughout much of the U.S., though, rail travel has become nothing more than a novelty. It might be interesting to take a train from San Francisco to Denver, but it’s neither cost- or time-effective. It’s not much of an upgrade than those scenic trains that take you through the mountains in Colorado, showing you what it was once like to travel by rail.
While much of Europe and Asia travels on fast, efficient trains, Americans still look down on trains as quaint, cute relics from the past.
In many ways, American trains are just that. Most of the trains in the United States are using technology that was outdated 50 years ago. If you’ve been on Amtrak, you might have whined about how slow the service is. And that’s when it’s working well…
There are easy answers to these questions. Car culture, U.S. policy, the subdivision of political power, and political opposition can all be cited as reasons for the lack of high-speed rail in the United States.
Decades of decisions to build highways, interstates, and freeways, as well as to continue expanding suburban sprawl, has only heightened the U.S.’s addiction to cars. Solutions that called for regional trains connecting cities seemed to be shot down left and right, increasingly leaving us trapped in our metal boxes, with no other choice but to drive.
The first true HSR is coming, albeit slowly. California’s big project connecting San Francisco and L.A., and eventually other major cities in the state has faced almost insurmountable obstacles of cost, land acquisition, and environmental review. These issues have caused it to balloon in both price and time, making it have to operate on an almost laughable timeline.
When it comes down to it, we need the Federal Government to push this project forward. The Feds need to support these big HSR projects in California and around the country and ensure they get done quickly and efficiently. These are huge investments for transportation and well-being for the country, making it laughable that it’s a “waste” of taxpayer money.
After all, that’s the reason we have such a big interstate network, with the Feds funding 80% of the cost of interstates back when they were first built. Nowadays, the government spends huge sums on highways ($72 million on highways in 2022) and on the military ($1.7 trillion on the F-35 jet).
That lack of Federal support might be the real reason we are sitting here in 2023 in the United States, asking (sometimes pleading), where is the rail?
My eyes keep opening more and more to how much our country values cars above... thriving humanity. It makes me crazy that we don't have high speed rail. That we don't treat our states like European nations worth going through and enjoying on the way in a fast, safe train. I live in Albany with dear friends in Buffalo, but never visit because the drive sucks and the train sucks more.
Makes me think of farm subsidies, too. Corn and soy in everything, not because its good but because its funded.