High-Speed Rail

By 2032, the Thai government plans to have high-speed rail connected every region of the country. Construction is scheduled to begin next year.The first line is planned to connect Bangkok and Rayong, to the southeast.

A European report shows that high-speed rail is creating social cohesion and accessibility for remote places. Could the same effect happen in the U.S.?

Federal money is making high-speed rail possible, but state governments are unsure if they can afford to maintain and operate the systems once they are in place.

A new survey conducted by HNTB Corporation says that nearly nine in ten Americans are currently open to high-speed rail travel for long-distance travel within the United States.

A new 350kph train connecting Zhengzhou and Xi'an debuted Saturday, cutting a 6 hour train ride down to less than 2 hours.

America 2050 releases a new video imagining what a commute in future Detroit could look like, including car sharing, high-speed rail, and a light rail connector.

The Department of Transportation has decided that the proposed Las Vegas - Southern California maglev train was not far enough along to be eligible for funding, which is meant to go towards more immediate solutions.

TIME Magazine gives an overview of possibility of high-speed rail in the country, and sees Florida as the perfect place to start.

Joan Lowy suggests that the Obama administration's claim that the high-speed rail initiative will create jobs overlooks the fact that the expertise is in Europe and Asia and foreign firms will likely be needed to develop HSR quickly.

Financial analysts in China say that the country is spending far too much money - to the tune of $229 billion - on its nationwide high-speed passenger-rail network.

In Chicago, plans to make passenger and commuter trains faster are limited by the freight trains that share the tracks. The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) is working to improve that relationship.

Five new connections opened just last week, including the Salerno to Torino line in Italy and a new section between Bruxelles and Amsterdam.

A high-speed rail line is planned for 2012 between London and Madrid. France and Spain will team up to build it.

The California High Speed Rail Blog says that the biggest obstacle to building HSR in California isn't the cost, but a number of problems with the planning process, especially the California Environmental Quality Act.

California Governor Schwarzenegger has ordered state officials to seek federal funding only for the state's high-speed rail project--at the expense of efforts to make Metrolink trains safer, some say.

Many in Sacramento and California's Central Valley are concerned that they aren't being prioritized in the process to get high-speed rail moving.

Planners from Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno met this week to discuss plans for high-speed rail between their cities, since they've been left off the map of potential corridors to be funded by the stimulus package.

Siemens has retrofitted trains for cold Russian winters; they are being rolled out now between Moscow and St. Petersburg and could be a model for American HSR.

America 2050 recently released a report ranking the best intercity corridors for high speed rail investment.

Kenya's national railway operator is planning a high speed rail line to transport freight and passengers and could pose a challenge to the South African consortium that currently runs rail services between Kenya and Uganda.