Joseph Vranich

Joseph Vranich, in Supertrains: Solutions to America's Gridlock describes how virtually every other industrial nation in the world has developed high speed rail lines to solve the problems of moving people without using vast amounts of land and at reasonable cost.
The French and German experience is instructive. TGV (Tres Grande Vitesse) trains in France now cruise at 200 mph and have been tested at speeds of over 300 mph at 10 times the efficiency of airplanes. The TGV has been consistently profitable earning 15% after debt service. It is remarkably economical. The entire cost (at 65% load) of a TGV train running from Lyons to Paris including interest and depreciation, fuel, and staff is less than the jet fuel alone for an Airbus on the same route. Incidentally, all the TGV lines, with the exception of the new Atlantic Line, were built without government assistance. Their safety record has been perfect: no injuries or deaths in over 25 years of operations during which time they carried more than a billion passengers. In the United States, more than 1/2 of all accidents are transportation related and 90% of those occur on highways.
The TGV uses steel-wheel-on-steel-rail technology. (Actually this is quite efficient. A U.S. locomotive manufacturer, as a publicity stunt, hired 4 young women to pull a 355 ton locomotive from a dead stop. They accomplished it easily. The rails and wheels offer little friction.) Maglev (magnetic levitation) technology may be even more efficient and practical. The Germans have several lines in operation. No motors are required, they are absolutely quiet, economical, and have a theoretical top speed of 1,700 mph (although this is impractical for passengers). The maglev trains actually float just above the single "support" which requires almost no "footprint" as it crosses the countryside. They could be easily installed along highways. A 250 mph system currently is operated by Lufthansa from one of their airports. Lufthansa believes it is in the business of moving people. The technology is irrelevant (something the railroads ignored in the fifties when they had opportunities to operate airlines). Lufthansa argues it makes little sense to get people swiftly to a destination only to have them park in gridlock on a superhighway to get into town.
Vranich suggests the U.S. needs to build high speed rail lines to connect cities 300 to 600 miles apart. These short hauls are wasteful for aircraft and actually slower in travel times when one considers ultimate downtown destinations. The Federal government has been woefully short-sighted (if not actually hostile) in developing high speed rail as an alternative.
Several states have begun to take the initiative from a purely practical standpoint. California and Nevada officials are ready to begin work on an Anaheim to Las Vegas maglev train. The maglevs have the advantage in mountainous terrain because they can climb a 10% grade and maintain high speed on sharp corners, reducing the need for tunnels and expensive grade work. Another maglev train is planned from Orlando to Disneyworld. Ohio is planning high speed rail lines for a link between Cleveland and Cincinnati. Pennsylvania has discussed a line to connect Pittsburgh to Philadelphia which would connect to Metroliner service on the Washington to Boston route.
The Eastern megalopolis is perfect for development of high speed rail. Metroliners now operate at about 125 mph and are extremely popular. They consistently outperform the airline shuttles. Vranich estimates a high speed rail line could be constructed up this corridor for less than $30 billion, less than the cost of two aircraft carriers. It would be an excellent and productive way to keep high-tech companies in business that have lost military contracts.
All this without mentioning Japan's "bullet" trains, where intense research into even faster speeds continues. They, too, have an enviable safety record with an incredible on-time record of 99%. Those few times when the trains were late, the average tardiness was 28 seconds. Other countries with intense high speed rail development include Spain, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, and Russia.
Vranich makes a lot of sense. The data is all available; the technology proven. All that is required is a little leadership.

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