A speeding bullet
09.06.2009
On a fast track: high-speed European trains. Photo by Rail Europe Inc.
(1 vote)
Bookmark this post with:
TRANSPORT: Car makers may be suffering, but firms that build high-speed trains are looking forwared to good times. The American transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, was in Europe recently, shopping for German, French and Spanish bullet trains and technologies.
LaHood seemed to favour Spain’s Alta Velocidad Española, or AVE, as the model for a proposed high-speed rail system in the US. President Barack Obama has promised $13 billion to "transform travel in America with an historic investment in high-speed rail".
President Obama wants to "transform travel in America".
The US has no high-speed train manufacturers, but building and running the lines will create jobs. Critics say that the US does not have Europe’s or Japan’s population density, which means the trains will be far too expensive to run. But there are benefits. Obama favours rail travel as a way to reduce emissions, because the trains could use electricity produced with renewable resources.
The US currently has just one high-speed line, which runs between Washington DC, New York, and Boston. Amtrak’s Acela Express was built by a consortium led by the Canadium firm Bombardier, and began operation in 1999. "In America we're just beginning what you've done here in Europe," LaHood told The Wall Street Journal, following a ride on the TGV .
entgegensehen
Transportminister(in)
Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge
Milliarden
hier: Rekord-
Hersteller
Strecken, Trassen
Bevölkerungsdichte
erneuerbare Ressourcen
den Betrieb aufnehmen
hier: Fahrt
Loading...
