#TEXAS HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE UPGRADE#
#TEXAS HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE SERIES#

Chris Gregoire, can help Cascadia reach its climate goals, while also addressing housing affordability and traffic congestion as millions of people are expected to move to the Cascadia region. Ultrahigh-speed rail, said former Washington Gov.

Texas Central estimates construction would take five to six years once the permits are obtained and will cost $20 billion. The first section, between Merced and Bakersfield, is set to open by the end of the decade.Ī private project - still in the planning and financing stage - would connect Dallas and Houston with a 90-minute train ride. The public project is following a familiar trajectory for large infrastructure projects it’s behind schedule and over budget. In 2016, California launched an ambitious high-speed rail project to link San Francisco and Los Angeles via the Central Valley. Currently, Amtrak’s Acela line in the Northeast remains the only one in the U.S., but actual speeds often have riders doubting that descriptor. Though common in Europe and Japan, high-speed rail has been slow to gain traction in North America. projects (one private, one public) aim to run trains over 200 miles per hour between densely populated areas. Seeing potential for demand - and revenue - in other areas of the county, Brightline has plans to build a western high-speed rail route between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Next: Does Cascadia high speed rail have a future after Initiative 976? The service reopened in early November after the pandemic shut it down for 20-months. An extension is scheduled to reach Orlando by the end of next year. Brightline shuttles passengers between Miami and West Palm Beach, with a stop in Fort Lauderdale, in about an hour and 15 minutes. The first privately run intercity railroad in the modern U.S. Rail lines are launching in areas not known for their embrace of public transportation, including private ventures.

Regional rail is already having a resurgence in the U.S., as congestion clogs highways and housing costs force many to live far from their jobs. This project is produced in partnership with InvestigateWest and other media outlets and is supported in part by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.Įmissions of carbon dioxide, meanwhile, dissolve into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate-change-driven heat waves, flooding and other weather extremes that already disproportionately affect marginalized communities.Īnd with President Joe “Amtrak” Biden in the White House ushering in one of the most substantial investments in passenger railroads over the past half century - $66 billion - regional rail's big moment might finally be arriving.

#TEXAS HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE SERIES#

This story is part of the series Getting to Zero: Decarbonizing Cascadia, which explores the path to low-carbon energy for British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Rail advocates argue new lines will grow the region economically by providing better connections between cities and evening out mobility inequalities, while also contributing to decarbonizing the region.Īchieving both economic and environmental goals would require powering trains by zero-carbon sources and shifting riders from autos and planes to trains.

#TEXAS HIGH SPEED RAIL ROUTE UPGRADE#

Another plan would upgrade and electrify Amtrak’s existing coastal route, along with other lines. There’s also a high-speed rail proposal for the Interstate 5 corridor running from Portland to Vancouver, British Columbia, via Seattle. Reviving the east-west route through Stampede Pass isn’t the only rail plan picking up steam in the Cascadia region. If we are going to survive, we have to turn around the carbon situation in the next decade. “The other piece: Everyone is concerned about the environmental needs, the tipping point. “It was also about going to Yakima, because even in Toppenish there’s not a whole lot of transportation options,” Hamilton said.

Texas high speed rail route