High Speed to Vegas!

So if you didn't know.. President Obama set aside 8 billion dollars in his stimulus plan for 'high-speed' rail lines in the U.S. President Obama was very careful to point out that his plan was only a down payment on an much more ambitious plan that, if realized, could connect Chicago and St. Louis, Orlando and Miami, Portland and Seattle and dozens of other metropolitan areas around the country with high-speed trains.

"This is not some fanciful, pie-in-the-sky vision of the future," Obama said ... "It is happening right now. It's been happening for decades. The problem is it's been happening elsewhere, not here."

In the United States, we trail other developed countries in creating high-speed rail systems. The Spanish can travel the 386 miles from Madrid to Barcelona at speeds averaging almost 150 miles per hour. Japan's Shinkansen links its major cities at speeds averaging 180 mph and France's TGV train averages about 133 mph in carrying passengers from Paris to Lyon. The only U.S. rail service that meets the Federal Railroad Administration's 110 mph threshold to qualify as high-speed rail is Amtrak's 9-year-old Acela Express route connecting Boston to Washington, D.C.

What would a system like that do for the country and the future of travel? Well, it would lower our need and dependence on fuels and an already over-burdened aviation system. Our highways and current rail systems are falling apart.. and the amount of money the U.S. spend on repair of the current highways and road systems.. is in the billions. The proposed plans are designed to 'up-grade' the current rail systems and change the speeds from about 70 miles an hour to over 150 miles an hour to get you where you want to go.. alot faster. No baggage checks, no waiting in long (or as long) lines at the airport.. and "no taking off your shoes".. hah. It would reduce the dependence on foreign oil, lower the amount of green house gases, and remove over a million cars off the road. It would create a demand for technology to use cleaner energy, and thus a cleaner environment.

So what about the West Coast of the United States? ..Cities like Los Angeles, and Las Vegas? There are plans to create a high-speed rail line between areas of California and Las Vegas. An original plan for a magnetic-levitation system was proposed, then turn over recently. Instead they are now supporting a more conventional train system being refferred ato as the DesertXpress: a high-speed train between Victorville, Calif., and Las Vegas... but a rival system being developed by the American Magline Group and the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission is expected to request similar support.

The DesertXpress would use conventional wheel-on-steel-rail technology and move passengers at 150 mph between Las Vegas and Victorville, the southern terminal. The maglev plan would extend from Las Vegas to Anaheim, Calif., and the technology involves vehicles levitated by charged electromagnets on a guideway. The system envisioned by the backers would travel 300 mph.

Personally, I love the train system idea. I have always enjoyed taking trips on trains when available. The problem is, it really is not a way to get anywhere very fast. A High-speed train from California to Las Vegas could be a very important first step this country could take, in terms of re-building from within and strengthening everything from a stronger economy, to creating jobs that and utilizing cleaner energy resources. Not to mention increased tourist travel to Las Vegas on a more frequent and less consuming time table. This could boost the economy in the longer run, making it alot more possible to travel between even more great mMetropolitan Cities at a much easier, and affordable pace. It seems to me, to be a step in a positive direction. Time will tell, but I hope the plan moves forward soon, and fast!