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.
Lowy writes, "...the jobs to design and make the rail cars and engines, signaling and track for the fastest trains will mainly go abroad to the European and Asian companies because it will take time for the U.S. to develop its own domestic high-speed rail industry, rail experts said. There will be U.S. manufacturing and engineering jobs for slower trains often described as "higher speed" or "midspeed." Much of the domestic high-speed work, however, will be the kind of construction and earth-moving work typical of highway projects, they said."
FULL STORY: SPIN METER: Many high-speed rail jobs could go to foreign companies with fast-train experience
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
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