People in North Carolina and Virginia must have seen what’s going on in China with high-speed rail and decided they wanted some of that. They are now requesting over $5 billion in funding for high-speed rail.

Actually, as a former resident of both North Carolina and Virginia professionally and personally involved in this topic, I can say they have been working on this topic and wanting better rail for quite a long time.

Now, though, with the federal government pledging $8 billion in stimulus funding for high-speed rail, they may have their chance.

However, they are not the only ones who want this money!

North Carolina (NC) and Virginia (VA) are requesting over $5 billion of the $8 billion the government has pledged and both are nearly finished with preliminary environmental studies (something the Federal Railroad Administration favors when deciding who to give the money to).

Rob Kulat, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, says that in total states have requested $57 billion for high-speed rail networks!

Yoav Hagler, an associate planner for America 2050, says that the places with the best chances of getting the money may actually be in California, the Midwest and the Northeast. According to a report he co-authored, the routes with the greatest demand are San Francisco to Los Angeles, Washington to Boston, and Chicago to Minneapolis, Detroit and St. Louis.

He says, “These are the places that have the population, the economies and the existing travel markets to really support these systems.”

As exciting as this opportunity is for people who want high-speed rail in the US, the high-speed rail we are talking about here does not quite compare to the high-speed rail in China, Japan, France, and Germany. NC and VA’s high-speed rail would average 86 mph (compared to its current 54 mph). China’s newest high-speed train averages 217 mph, Japan’s best averages 172 mph, France’s 151 mph, and Germany’s 144 mph.

I think if we want to compete with other major economies and societies, the US needs to raise this $8 billion funding to something exponentially higher. Clearly, states are waiting for the money. I think this is a good start, though — takes a little longer for trains to get going, but once they pick up speed….

Reprinted with permission from Cleantechnica