By Scott Beyer, Urban Issues Columnist, Governing; August 3, 2020
America is way behind on building high-speed rail. While nations like China and Spain have thousands of miles of high-speed rail in operation — and are building thousands more — all we’ve got is Amtrak’s D.C.-to-Boston Acela Express, with its average operating speed of 70 mph.
Money is not the biggest problem, nor is lack of consumer demand. There have been federal allocations, and increasingly commitments by private investors, that aim to connect America’s major cities by high-speed rail. The issue is space: The lines cannot be built because there’s no designated right-of-way for them.