The bull had a beautiful brown coat and impressive horns. This wasn't in Texas, but rather on railroad tracks west of New York, near Newark airport. As a result, all trains were delayed by at least 45 minutes on the morning of Thursday, December 14: a new quirk of the Boston-Washington corridor's railroads, which already have so many. It's the notorious Baltimore Tunnel, a real bottleneck for the Amtrak, the trade name of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, that delays travelers. Built over 150 years ago, the 2.4-kilometer tunnel does not meet modern safety standards and has a speed limit of 50 km/h. It is to be replaced by a new tunnel, which will cost $6 billion (€5.5 billion) and be inaugurated in... 2035. If all goes well.
Similarly, 28 new Avelia Liberty high-speed trains, manufactured by Alstom, were due for delivery in early 2022. But due to problems with standards and unadapted overhead lines, they won't come into use until 2024. And, in any case, the Washington-New York-Boston route is not designed for high speed. As a result, the trains will never exceed 260 km/h; trains are considered to be "high-speed" only above 300 km/h. This is why, when the subject of high-speed rail in the United States comes up, Americans meet it with amusement.
Nevertheless, the tide may be turning, even if the first reaction is caution, given the numerous failures of high-speed trains in the US. President Joe Biden – who was well-known for taking the train during his years as a senator to commute from Delaware, where he was elected, and Washington, DC – has just announced $8.2 billion in public funding for high-speed rail projects. On December 9, he went to Las Vegas to announce $3 billion in federal aid for the project that is furthest advanced: the 350-kilometer high-speed line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
"Trying to make that drive from LA to Las Vegas or anywhere in between is a pain in the neck. It can take up to seven hours. But soon, it won't be. We're investing $3 billion on a rail line so folks can make that trip in just over two hours," Biden said. Indeed, Interstate 15, the highway that leads to Vegas, where Californians go to party by the millions, is frequently jammed in the sweltering heat of the Mojave Desert.
The project's private developer, Brightline Holdings, is hoping to get construction underway very soon. The company has several advantages, as its CEO Michael Reininger explained to The Wall Street Journal. Firstly, the company has no expropriation problems: It has the space available between the two lanes of Interstate 15 to lay its tracks. It has a renewable power supply plan, using solar and wind energy. It has operating experience, with the Miami-Orlando line in Florida, which is not high-speed but has linked the two cities since September 2023. It is the only private passenger rail company to have expanded in decades. The deal hasn't stopped the costs from soaring, with the project already surpassing the $12 billion mark, but this venture could be the first to succeed.
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