California and the Northeast Corridor are Key to High-Speed Rail's Success

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy recently released a new report, High-Speed Rail: International Lessons for U.S. Policy Makers. The report says explains why it is a good idea to focus on California and the Northeast:

"These are connections between major cities that are too short to fly, and too long to drive, and could potentially open up labor markets in much the same way it works between cities in Europe. The projects are ambitious, face alignment challenges, and are not cheap – $50 billion for California (approved by citizens in a ballot question) and potentially $100 billion for a Northeast corridor replacement of the Acela, using new tracks in Connecticut and Massachusetts. But they promise a return on investment, as the international experience shows, and would create lots of jobs – 450,000 jobs through 2035 in California, according to that state's HSR Authority, and 44,000 jobs annually over 25 years plus 120,000 permanent jobs for the Northeast corridor, according to Amtrak."

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