Ray LaHood Rides the Bullet Train

Found this good news item in my Inbox today from the Midwest High Speed Rail Association:

US transport boss rides Spanish bullet train

"Spain showed off its bullet train system on Friday, giving the U.S. transportation secretary a firsthand glimpse of the high-speed rail grid that President Barack Obama has praised as a model for America.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood boarded a train at Madrid's Atocha station along with Spanish Development Minister Jose Blanco for an hour-and-a-quarter trip to Zaragoza, a stop on the line heading to Barcelona.

Lahood has been touring Europe this week, riding a TGV bullet-train in France and attending a transportation conference in Germany that also featured officials from the German railway system, Deutsche Bahn.

Obama last month unveiled an $8 billion plan to build a high-speed rail network in the U.S. and upgrade existing services. The U.S. president cited Spain, France, China and Japan as countries with systems for his nation to emulate.

Lahood was also to tour a railway control center in Zaragoza, then return to Madrid, where he meets Saturday with Spanish business leaders and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Spain has become a leader in high-speed rail travel since inaugurating its first AVE line in 1992, from Madrid to Seville. The route has been a huge success, largely replacing road and air travel to the largest city in the southern Andalusia region.

The line to Barcelona, the latest to be completed, gets travelers to Spain's second-largest city in less than three hours compared to a drive of about six hours. By plane, the trip takes about an hour, not including time to get to the airport and go through security.

Before the high speed rail service began in February 2008, air travelers to Barcelona surpassed train passengers by more than seven to one, but as of this January, the two groups were roughly equal in number, according to government statistics."

Some prominent urban leaders worry that funding for high speed rail will divert money needed for municipal transit systems.  That's a reasonable concern.  Let's hope that high speed rail is viewed, instead, as an alternative to long car trips and short haul air travel and as a way to bring new competitiveness to cities of the nation.

  

Daron Dierkes, June 15, 2009

This is fantastic. I hope he got a tour while in Madrid of the crazy local airport. Fancy and nice, it may be, crazy confusing though. He should take the pink line to get out there. Getting to the airport by public transit and figuring out where to check in is part of the fun. Perhaps i'm alone on this. To me, I saw lavish expenses all around and poor operations. Incheon, Changi, and Hong Kong International please. I hope he goes with a delegation to Japan.

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