{"id":194795,"date":"2025-04-03T09:24:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T23:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=194795"},"modified":"2025-04-03T09:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T23:24:05","slug":"after-a-slow-start-high-speed-rail-might-finally-arrive-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=194795","title":{"rendered":"After a Slow Start, High-Speed Rail Might Finally Arrive in America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law \u2014 the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act \u2014 that seemed to pave the way for a national high-speed rail system in the United States. \u201cAn astronaut can orbit the earth faster than a man on the ground can get from New York to Washington,\u201d he lamented<\/a> at the time. Sixty years later, it still takes about three hours to travel between the two cities \u2014 a period about twice as long as a single orbit of the International Space Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High-speed rail in the United States is still years away. But projects across the country, from Washington State to Texas, suggest a growing enthusiasm for faster train service. These efforts are relatively modest in size, proposing to connect two or three cities at a time. But that may be precisely what makes them feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Trump administration, high-speed rail is unlikely to receive additional support from the federal government. \u201cThere should be a federal program,\u201d said Rick Harnish, executive director of the High Speed Rail Alliance<\/a>. \u201cBut in the current circumstances, states need to do what they can on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n