Dreaming about high-speed trains in the U.S.

Those of you who have traveled in Japan’s bullet trains or in Europe high-speed trains (be it in France, Italy, Germany or Spain) know how comfortable and reliable they are as well as how much time they save. That is why it seems hard to believe that more than 40 years after the first bullet trains zipped through Japan, the United States still lacks true high-speed trains. And that might not change anytime soon. In spite of the $8 billion investment in high-speed rail added at the last minute to the new economic stimulus package. As experts have said, that amount will not be enough to pay for a single bullet train, specially after the $8 billions are divided among the 11 regions across the US which have been designated by the government as high-speed rail corridors. How is the money to be used? Apparently in improving some passenger lines and creating some jobs improving tracks, crossings and signal systems. Jobs which could have also been created by installing the new high-speed rails (as it is been done at the moment in Spain where the high-speed are being extended in many areas of the country). Eventually it could also have helped saving energy as people would have used these trains more and more and their gasoline consuming cars less. But then, special interest, such as the car industry being powerful in this country, maybe the $8 billion inserted in the stimulus at the 11th hour by the White House was just window dressing.