Obama gets on board for high speed rail

One thing I've been wondering about during this campaign is the lack of any discussion of high speed rail as a solution to our energy problems. It works in many other countries around the world; it works in the Northeast in this county. It's extremely efficient, both in terms of time and energy. Traveling by air is increasingly a hassle these days, for many reasons. So why don't we invest more in high speed rail (HSR)?

Specifically, I've been wondering why I haven't been hearing more about this from Obama. It seems like something that would be right up his ally. Of course, with all of the Reverend Wright nonsense, my guess is that high speed rail gets lots in the noise. Turns out I was right about that. I just discovered a great blog, California High Speed Rail. And it's not just a great blog because it uses the same template that I do, although that is a nice style point. The first post up there right now is titled "Obama on High Speed Rail." Perfect! It's a great post - go read it. The only complaint, which I agree with, is why doesn't this have more prominence in the campaign? There are lots of people out there who are hardcore rail fanatics. You start talking rail seriously, you will get those people in droves. And you know what? A lot of those people are working-class white guys.

I will have more about this later. For now, I'm going to make it personal.

I did some rough calculations of time. Let's say I want to travel from LA to Las Vegas. Driving it can be done in about five hours, but unless you leave in the middle of the night, you're going to hit traffic, so call it six hours. Flying takes a little less than an hour, but you have to get to the airport at least an hour and a half ahead of time, and then it's going to take you some time, say 15 minutes, to disembark. And, of course, you have to park at the airport and then get to the terminal, which is at least another 15 minutes. So let's say flying to Vegas takes three hours - 15 minutes at the airport to park, an hour and a half at there to check in, etc., an hour flight, and then 15 minutes to disembark.

From my apartment, it's about half an hour drive to the airport. Alternatively, I can take public transportation to Union Station in about the same time, or even less. I can also take public transporatioin to Union Station and then take a shuttle to the airport, which is only $4, but that adds at least another 45 minutes. So getting to the airport or to the train station takes about the same amount of time. One benefit of taking public transportation (basically the subway, which is 4 blocks from my apartment) is that it's free - I have a bus pass from work. And, of course, I don't have to pay for parking at the airport.

Once I get to the train station, I can leave within about 15 minutes - pick up my ticket and get right on board. Assuming high speed rail is traveling 200 mph, and it's a straight shot to Vegas, that puts me there is roughly an hour and a half. And then basically no time to disembark.

So if I could take a high speed train to Vegas, I could get there in a little less than two hours, from the time I get to the train station. If I travel by air, I have to get to the airport a little less than two hours before my flight. So if I travel by high speed rail (HSR), I could get to Vegas not only faster than I could by air, I could actually be in Vegas before my flight takes off from LAX.

And my guess is that that would be true for many short term hauls around the country. Philadelphia-Pittsburgh. Chicago-Detroit. Dallas-Houston. Atlanta-Orlando.

Kudos to Obama for bringing this up. Talk about change - this could be a good one.