IEA: High oil prices are here to stay says the International Energy Agency, and are caused by surging demand and limited new supply, not Wall Street speculators.
Expected to keep rising soon making our cars, trucks, and airplanes too costly to operate
HIGH SPEED RAIL The only viable solution delivering high capacity, fast mobility without oil
New Study for Midwest: Huge Benefits With High Speed Rail
Click to read
HSR Works ELPC
Click to view website
NEW POLL SHOWS OVERWHELMING BIPARTISAN SUPPORT for federal and state funding for high speed rail see poll
Conservative Case for High Speed Rail from the co-founder of Heritage Foundation Check it out
All Transportation in America Has Been Heavily Subsidized for More Than 50 Years!
New Study Proves "User Fees" and Gas Taxes Have Come Up Short - Requiring a $600 Billion Subsidy for Roads to Date
"Highways do not - and, except for brief periods in our nation's history - never have paid for themselves through taxes that highway advocates label 'user fees'" -from the study
The concession buyer is a consortium comprising of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. They will operate the infrastructure from London to the Eurotunnel, as well as London's St. Pancras International station and other stations along the route.
"This is great news for taxpayers and rail passengers alike. It is an enormous amount of money and is a big vote of confidence in UK plc and a big vote of market confidence in the future of UK high speed rail." said UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. More
St. Pancras International
USHSR Podcast
Click to Listen
National Rail Plan Released by FRA
New HSR Research Report Released by USPIRG
Click to read
New Report Released by Smart Growth America
Click to read
America's New Transportation Agenda
Click to read
New Swiss Tunnel Breakthrough
"America is addicted to oil." -President George W. Bush - 2006
"The quicker we get about the business of reducing our reliance on oil, the better we're going to be." -Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State - May, 2006
"We gotta get off oil, America has got to change its habits." -President George W. Bush - 2008
"Not one in a hundred of the people in our country have any inkling of the potential problem that we're facing." -Congressman Roscoe Bartlett - 2008
"Petroleum consumption is, of course, a growing national concern, not only as an economic drain, but also because increasingglobal competition for petroleum supplies raises national security concerns." -Federal Railroad Administration - 2010
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell suggested recently that some of the billions now being spent on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq might better be used on high-speed rail. "We'd have a lot of money to do a lot of things."-August 10, 2010
"High speed rail is part one of a backup plan to ensure energy security" Newsweek - May 10, 2010
"If we are to continue economic development and prosperity, we will need to greatly reduce our daily oil consumption, and high-speed rail is the only possible solution that can scale up to meet the growing demand of American mobility while greatly reducing our oil consumption." -USHSR President Andy Kunz onCNN - 2010
"High-speed trains have revolutionized the way that people move between cities hundreds of miles apart. These trains are powered by electricity--the ideal medium to facilitate a transition away from oil because it can blend energy sources and thus shift from non-renewable carbon based fuels like coal and natural gas to renewable sources like solar, wind, and water as soon as the infrastructure to generate them can be built." -Anthony Perl, 2010
HIGH SPEED RAIL
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Investing in HSR is not a short term fiscal expense; rather, it is a wealth-creating sustainable development project for decades to come." -John Parisella, Quebec's Delegate General in America
HSR BOOMING GLOBALLY:
China - 800 trainsets operating France - 600 trainsets operating Japan - 450 trainsets operating Spain - 300 trainsets operating USA - 20 trainsets operating
Across the water in Great Britain, the new conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has won great attention for his cost-cutting ways as he slashes funding for health care, police, prisons, housing, and even defense. But one area has remained immune to Cameron's sharp blade: the country's emerging high-speed rail system, including the line under development running from London to Birmingham. In fact, Cameron is expanding funding for the system. Cameron understands what apparently few of his conservative colleagues here do yet, which is that investing in high-speed rail is part of a sound investment in the country's future.
High-Speed Rail Moving Forward Even with Budget Cuts
The Federal Railroad Administration will soon be making $2 billion in new federal high-speed rail grants for shovel-ready projects in resonse to competitive requests from 24 Governors - 12 Democrats, 1 Independent, and 11 Republicans. More Info
"High-speed rail investments are on track with vast bipartisan support across the country. While bickering continues inside the Beltway, projects are moving forward, jobs are being created, and dozens of governors from both sides of the aisle are applying for $2 billion in available funding." -Howard Learner, Env. Law & Policy CenterStory | Website | Am2050
Click image for more
"A single high speed rail line can carry the equivalent of a 10-lane freeway, can be built for much less cost, is cheaper to operate, uses a tiny fraction of the energy (from electricity, not oil), and operates without congestion or delays - especially during rush hour and peak travel days."
High cost, high energy use, low capacity
Moderate cost, low energy, huge capacity
"High speed rail can carry 10,000 passengers an hour in each direction" -Denis Doute, SNCF
"America is ready for high-speed, intercity rail, and the fact that 35 states have accepted the money is proof of it." -US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, 2011
Republican Anti-Rail Governor Now Supports Rail!
In an amazing twist of fate, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker now supports rail in his state and wants Federal money for the project! USHSR commends Governor Walker for finally seeing the light and realizing the great value rail offers for businesses, job creation, economic revitalization, and in delivering new options for better mobility not subject to congestion, delays, or rising gas prices. "That's good for business, that's good for business travelers and it's yet one more incentive to do business here in southeastern Wisconsin," said Governor Walker. "Amtrak's Hiawatha line carried nearly 800,000 passengers between Milwaukee and Chicago last year and is seeing growth this year" Walker added.
CNN: U.S. must finally end its addiction to oil High speed rail is the fastest, most comprehensive way to do that while maintaining mobility and prosperityStory
Click image for the future
FLORIDA HSR
CALIFORNIA HSR
MEMBERSHIP
info
info
info
America built for $10 per barrel oil
See why we need high speed rail connecting Orlando & Tampa...
Click image to watch
"Within 25 years our goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high speed rail" -President Obama, State of the Union address, 1-25-11 Click to watch
High speed rail is good for America... everyone stands to benefit!
HIGH SPEED RAIL = FREEDOM!
Freedom from the daily hassles, delays, dangers, and problems America's transportation systems have become
High speed rail = freedom from our current transportation problems
Freedom from airport security hassles, freedom from never-ending flight delays and cancellations, freedom from being forced to spend hours stuck in airports, freedom from having to turn off your electronic devices, freedom from endless traffic jams, freedom from car accidents, freedom from foreign oil dependency and rogue nations controlling us, freedom from oil price spikes, freedom from transferring our wealth (money we spend on transportation) to terrorist-ridden nations that don't like us, and freedom from being pulled into resource wars.
Promoting HSR for America is promoting freedom for Americans!
HSR is as American as we can get.
"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." -Michelangelo
Time Magazine live from our Orlando HSR conference:
"More than 300 business types showed up at its shindig at the Orlando Hilton, where they saw cool models of German, Spanish, South Korean and Japanese bullet trains and a cool video of a French train traveling a record 357 m.p.h. When I asked a lobbyist I recognized what he was doing there, he grinned and rubbed his thumb against two fingers." -Michael Grunwald, Time Magazine
J O B S J O B S J O B S
High speed rail creates more jobs per dollar spent than any other infrastructure project. High speed rail will get America moving, and create good jobs across numerous sectors including construction, manufacturing, operations, engineering, design, architecture, urban planning, real estate, etc. Let's get America moving...
Vote for visionary leaders of both parties that support high speed rail!
"Cities that have high speed rail will be more competitive and better positioned to attract tourism, businesses, jobs, and high quality personnel."
88% of Americans Support High Speed Rail
"There's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains" -President Obama, January 27, 2010
Click to watch
"Building a new system of high speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper, and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already over-burdened aviation system - and everybody stands to benefit." President Obama, April 16, 2009
Big Plans for US High Speed Rail:
"New high-speed trains will link 80 percent of Americans within 25 years, at a cost of about $500 billion" -Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, 8/12/10
(That's only $20 billion per year)
"Over the next 6 years, we are going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways - enough to stretch coast to coast!" -President Obama, September 6, 2010
Click to view map
Philadelphia Inquirer: Europe's high speed rail revolution may spread to US:
Fast, safe, efficient
-In Europe, fast trains are transforming the continent, bringing cities and countries within a few hours of one another, erasing centuries-old regional divisions, resuscitating long-dormant towns, cutting air pollution, creating new economies and manufacturing jobs -The Spanish AVE HSR is so far removed from U.S. trains that it feels like a different mode of travel entirely, more Starship Enterprise than Acela Express -For decades, the United States ignored technological advances in rail travel, leaving passenger trains in a nostalgic time warp. Devoted to their cars and jetliners, Americans dismissed 'bullet trains' as engineering novelties or costly foreign experiments unsuited to the way we live and travel. -For a country mired in automotive gridlock and air-traffic jams, increasingly dependent on foreign oil and polluted by its own toxins, the stakes could not be higher.
Endless gridlock
-Here's the price Americans pay for a transport system that has become overcrowded, wasteful, slow, and expensive: $87.2 billion a year lost in automotive gridlock, more than $750 for every U.S. traveler. That's more than 2.8 billion gallons of gas wasted - three weeks worth per traveler. And time wasted in traffic jams totals 4.2 billion hours - nearly one full workweek for every traveler. -The cost of domestic air-traffic delays, according to a 2008 analysis by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, is as much as $41 billion annually, including $19 billion in increased operational costs for the airlines and $12 billion worth of lost time for passengers." -The environmental price tag has become starkly clear ever since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April, killing 11 people and spilling 210 million gallons of oil. More than 57,000 square miles of the gulf, rich in fish, shrimp, oysters, and crabs, remain closed to fishing because of the disaster. Full story
Constant delays
HSR - The Solution to the Oil Supply Crisis and Energy Security
"The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now." -President Obama, June 16, 2010
Oil problems for America
USHSR supports a visionary clean energy bill with America becoming a global sustainability leader. A major investment in a national high speed rail network - electrically powered by renewables is the centerpiece of this visionary green energy future.
American oil consumption is not sustainable - currently at 20 million barrels of oil EVERY DAY, 70% of it going directly to transportation. This amount is expected to double to 40 million barrels per day by 2030, in America alone.
Projected growth in oil consumption is not possible. There is widespread agreement among geologists and oil industry executives that the cheap, easy oil days are over - as everyone is witnessing today in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East. Experts say by 2030 global oil supplies will have been depleted to half the oil available today, including all global sources: offshore, deep sea, wilderness, etc.
Alternative fuels don't add up. Biofuels, ethanol, natural gas, tar sands, and fuel cells all have a small role to play, but even with each of them fully scaled up, and then combined they can only produce a tiny fraction of the liquid fuel we use daily for transportation. It is physically, financially, and environmentally impossible to scale up these fuels in any sustainable or affordable way to meet the American insatiable appetite for oil on a daily basis.
Electric cars - a partial solution. While they reduce some oil demand, electric cars do nothing to solve congestion, accidents, deaths and injuries, delays and time waste, crumbling roads and bridges, encouragement of sprawl, etc.
Solution - expand transportation options to reduce daily demand for oil. Since increasing oil supply is proving to be nearly impossible, reducing demand is the only viable solution, by reducing our need for so much oil as part of daily living. Ramping up forms of transportation that consume little or no oil is the heart of the solution. Converting our national transportation network towards a system of electric trains throughout the country will take a huge bite out of our unsustainable appetite for oil, while increasing mobility, efficiency, global competitiveness, and national security. High speed rail is the large-scale, comprehensive solution to the oil supply problem, and is the most significant way to reduce our daily consumption of oil quickly and efficiently while maintaining our prosperity and economic growth.
High Speed Rail is the backbone of a clean energy future.
Most other industrialized nations already realize this, and are way ahead of us in building their high speed rail systems as a way to reduce dependence on oil, foreign or domestic.
"If we are to continue economic development and prosperity, we will need to greatly reduce our daily oil consumption, and high-speed rail is the only possible solution that can scale up to meet the growing demand of American mobility while greatly reducing our oil consumption." -USHSR President Andy Kunz onCNN - 2010
$115 Billion/yr waste
$41 Billion/yr waste
NPR's Diane Rehm Show on HSR
Click to listen
AMAZING HSR TRIP TIMES!
High Speed Rail delivers amazing door-to-door, city center to city center service that beats flying and driving with a ride that's affordable, comfortable, and low stress from start to finish:
DC >> New York City 1 hour, 15 minutes
NYC >> Boston 1 hour, 15 minutes
NYC >> Philadelphia 30 minutes NYC >> Montreal 1 hour, 45 minutes
Senior executives from USHSR are headed to China for a high level trade mission to meet with government officials and high speed rail industry leaders. Thomas Hart - VP for Government Affairs, and Joseph Shelhorse - VP for Member Services will be touring HSR factories, rail construction sites, and riding the new high speed trains.
Thomas Hart
"We are excited about this trip and hope to bring back valuable information and new relationships with the visionary leaders of China to help America build our own national high speed rail system. The scale and speed at which China is building their new rail system is truely impressive, and a great model for the United States", said Thomas Hart as they boarded the international flight to Beijing.
USHSR in Time magazine
"All Aboard?" July 19
TIME on USHSR
"More than 300 business types showed up at its shindig at the Orlando Hilton, where they saw cool models of German, Spanish, South Korean and Japanese bullet trains and a cool video of a French train traveling a record 357 m.p.h. When I asked a lobbyist I recognized what he was doing there, he grinned and rubbed his thumb against two fingers."
TIME on HSR
"The goal is to create attractive alternatives to long drives and short flights, which would relieve road and air congestion; reduce carbon emissions, highway deaths and dependence on oil from foreign thugs or the blackened Gulf; create jobs, jump start a new domestic manufacturing industry; and improve the competitiveness and convenience of the U.S. economy."
"You wouldn't have to get to the airport ridiculously early, take off your shoes, turn off your phone or pay extra for luggage; you wouldn't have to worry about the weather or some Icelandic volcano canceling your trip. You wouldn't have to watch the road, wait in traffic, find parking or pull over to stretch your legs; you wouldn't risk arrest or an accident by drinking or texting." -Time, July 19, 2010
USHSR on CNN
"If we are to continue economic development and prosperity, we will need to greatly reduce our daily oil consumption, and high-speed rail is the only possible solution that can scale up to meet the growing demand of American mobility while greatly reducing our oil consumption." -USHSR President Andy Kunz onCNN
.italo
HSR Italy
For-profit, privately run HSR opens across Italy - 2011 Take a tour
China advances green energy and transportation all together: Launching the world's largest solar power plant - 6.7MW photovoltaic generating system capable of powering 12,000 households.
The solar installation was installed on the roof of a new high speed rail station combining green energy with green transportation.
"You go to Shanghai, China, and they've built more high-speed rail in the last year than we've built in the last 30 years." -President Obama, 12/6/10
Bipartisan Support for High Speed Rail
Republicans and Democrats alike see the great value in this project, and have been working across party lines to get new rail projects going in states all across the country. There is bipartisan support for high speed rail in Congress, the Department of Transportation, state houses, and among mayors.
States Respond Overwhelmingly to More High Speed Rail Funding With 77 Applications
The Federal Railroad Administration has received 77 applications from 25 states recently totaling more than $8.5 billion. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said "We have received strong bi-partisan support for President Obama's bold initiative that will enhance regional mobility, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, ease highway and airport congestion and reduce our carbon footprint." Story
"Overall, high-speed rail is far more cost effective than its opponents claim. And high-speed rail could become a significant part of America's transportation mix with far less investment than has been poured into highways and airports." Story
"In America it has become a call to arms for libertarians and 'fiscal conservatives' who insist that high-speed rail must pay for itself, while ignoring the massive subsidies received by the auto and airline industries." -Bruce Selcraig Story
"The government has given multi-billions in subsidies every year to highways and to the airlines, but very little to run Amtrak. Airlines lose money, the highways lose money, but Amtrak has been asked by the Feds to either turn a profit or break even." Bob Yaro, President - Regional Plan AssociationStory
CALPIRG New Report: High Speed Rail Benefits Around the WorldRead the Report
US Conference of Mayors Report: Huge Benefits With High Speed RailFull Report
MORE INFO
Click for Trains
Click for Stations
Click for Benefits
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10 G St. NE, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 248-5001
