The United States is home to the largest rail network in the world, with an operating route
length of around 150,000 kilometres.
But despite its vast size, approximately 80% of the system is used for moving freight, with
most of the country’s population preferring to drive or fly when travelling domestically.
For decades the US has been trying to introduce high-speed rail systems that would rival existing
networks in Asia and Europe, and that would get more people out of their cars and onto trains.
Progress, however, has been slow. In California, a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles
and San Francisco is currently under construction, but the project has suffered numerous setbacks.
Now in Texas, another high-speed line has moved one step closer to becoming a reality,
and looks set to be the first in the country to be completed. If all goes to plan, this
would mark the start of a whole new chapter in American mobility.
With 29 million residents and extending over an area of almost 700,000 square kilometres,
Texas is the second largest US state by population and land mass.
It's also an economic powerhouse – if it were its own sovereign country, it would have
the tenth highest GDP in the world. However, as its economy and population continues to
grow, particularly in the southern half of the state, transport links are coming under
considerable strain.
Around 16 million people now travel between Houston and North Texas each year and the
majority of those journeys are made on a single highway – Interstate 45 – where journey
times can range from three and a half to five and a half hours.
The situation is only expected to get worse in the coming years, with a 200% increase
in traffic along the route projected by 2035.
But thanks to a proposed new multi-billion-dollar project, using one of the most efficient and
environmentally friendly mass transportation systems anywhere in the world, Texans may
soon be able to make the near-400 kilometre trip in less than 90 minutes, but by rail
instead of road.
Private railroad company Texas Central is planning to develop a high-tech new train
line that connects North Texas, the Brazos Valley and Houston.
Following the signing of a USD $14 billion deal between Texas Central and contractor
Salini-Lane in September 2019, work is now scheduled to commence in 2020, with the line
expected to become operational in 2026.
The aim is to use high-tech Japanese bullet trains, which have been running on routes
across Japan for several decades and are capable of travelling at more than 300 km/h.
As well as offering rapid journey times, these locomotives are widely admired for their low-impact,
eco-friendly design. They use just one eighth of the electricity per passenger mile that
a typical commercial jet uses, and according to a study from the International Union of
Railways, high-speed rail can be up to 14 times less carbon-intensive than car travel.
The service is also being presented as a much safer alternative to travelling on what has
been labelled the second deadliest highway in the United States.
Japan’s bullet trains boast a faultless safety record. In more than
50 years since the first locomotives rolled off the production line, there have
been zero injuries or loss-of-life accidents caused by one of the trains, despite them
carrying more than 10 billion passengers in that time.
While the list of potential benefits may be lengthy, there are a number of obstacles to
be overcome before work can begin. These range from gaining federal approvals to securing
the remaining funding from private investors, which still stands at billions of dollars.
The developers are also facing opposition from Texas landowners over the current plans
to acquire land along the proposed route. There are fears that the line would disrupt
the local environment and residents’ way of life.
In spite of these challenges, there is real optimism that they can be overcome in the
near future, and that plans to finally bring high-speed rail to the United States by the
middle of the next decade can be considered an achievable target rather than an overly-ambitious one
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