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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
High-speed rail has come to America. Or has it?
By Ben Jones, CNN
Updated:
9:25 AM EDT, Tue September 9, 2025
Source: CNN
America’s fastest train has arrived. made its public debut on August
27, delivering modern design, more seats and an enhanced passenger
experience. Hailed as a leap forward for high-speed rail in America, it
is, in truth, more of a half-step.
The new trains — siblings to France’s iconic TGVs — can reach 160
miles per hour. But on American tracks that’s rarely possible. For
now, passengers will only experience a few short bursts at top speed,
which is still far short of what is standard in Europe and Asia.
Still, the new trains are expected to be a welcome improvement for
travelers on the busy Northeast Corridor, even if the broader prospects
for high-speed rail in the United States remain dim.
Decades of underinvestment have left the country with congested
highways, crumbling bridges, crowded airports — and a disjointed
passenger rail network that is underfunded and unreliable.
Globally, more than 40,000 miles of modern high-speed railway are now
in operation, used to make three billion passenger journeys per year,
according to the International Union of Railways. Another 12,400 miles
of track is under construction, while China alone has opened 1,200
miles this year.
The United States, by contrast, is pulling back.
Hopes of a rail revolution that three years ago was poised to transform
connectivity between major cities seem to have faltered. Only three
truly high-speed rail projects are in development — and two of these
have recently had government funding withdrawn.
Railway California
Part of the problem is structural. The country has become a difficult
place to build large-scale infrastructure. Land, materials and labor
are costly. Experienced engineers are retiring faster than they can be
replaced. Environmental reviews and permitting can stretch on for
years. Land ownership is fiercely protected, making right-of-way
acquisition expensive and contentious.
Perhaps most consequentially, the nation remains deeply devoted to the
car. Layered onto all of this is a political system in which priorities
flip every few years, undermining the long-term planning and financing
that such megaprojects demand.
The most ambitious project, California High-Speed Rail, was meant to
connect San Francisco and Los Angeles across up to 500 miles of track
in under three hours, with possible future extensions north to
Sacramento and south to San Diego.
In July, that vision suffered a major setback when the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA) pulled $4 billion in funding allocated by the
Biden administration, saying the project had breached multiple
commitments.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pointed to missed deadlines,
including a pledge to have the first 170 miles in operation by 2033.
Failing to meet self-imposed goals along the way means that won’t
happen, he said.
“After 16 years and roughly $15 billion spent, not one high-speed
track has been laid,” he said, commenting on a June government report
on the project. “This report exposes a cold, hard truth: California
High Speed Rail Authority has no viable path to complete this project
on time or on budget.”
The report said the project had lost control of contractors and
finances, failed to procure trains on schedule, lacked funding for
electrification and had “no credible plan” to close a $7-billion
funding gap needed to finish the initial 170-mile Central Valley
segment.
Duffy has also instructed regulators to review other grants with the
aim of clawing back additional federal funds. Just a day before Amtrak
unveiled its new Acela trains, his department withdrew another $175
million earmarked for California rail projects.
“The waste ends here,” Duffy . “As of today, the American people
are done investing in California’s failed experiment. Instead, my
Department will focus on making travel great again by investing in
well-managed projects that can make projects like high-speed rail a
reality.”
State officials insist the project is far from over. The California
High Speed Rail Authority has sued the Trump administration, the
funding cuts “petty, political retribution” driven by the
president’s “personal animus towards California and the high-speed
project, not by facts on the ground.” Its chief executive, Ian
Choudri, has accused the FRA of .
Meanwhile, construction is progressing on the first 170-mile stretch
between Merced and Bakersfield. The CHSRA says 70 miles of trackbed and
more than 50 bridges and overpasses are complete, with tracklaying
about to begin. Only last week, however, questions were raised over
whether that initial stretch should divert from Merced to Gilroy,
roughly 60 miles west, to save money.
The obstacles remain daunting. Of the $36.3 billion needed for the
Central Valley section, just $28.2 billion has been secured, with
another $1 billion a year expected to come from state emissions taxes.
Even when completed, the initial line will only connect secondary
cities, limiting its appeal until it reaches San Francisco and Los
Angeles. A later phase could extend tracks to reach Sacramento and San
Diego taking the total system to 776 miles, although this is still in
the early stages of planning.
The entire project could cost up to $135 billion depending on its final
extent and the route it takes. Phase one, of which the
Merced-Bakersfield section forms the core, will connect six of
California’s 10 largest cities — San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno,
Bakersfield, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
Supporters argue the payoff would be substantial.
A completed network would carry the equivalent capacity of 4,200 miles
of new highway lanes, 91 additional airport gates and two new runways
— infrastructure that would likely cost far more.
With California’s population expected to exceed 45 million by 2050,
backers see high-speed rail as the most efficient solution to prevent
the state from grinding to a halt. A recent poll found , but each new
legal skirmish and delay adds to the cost of what is already one of the
most expensive railway projects in history.
Texas hold ups
California isn’t the only state to get its federal high-speed railway
funding slashed. The Texas Central Railway, a privately funded plan to
link Dallas and Houston in 90 minutes with Japanese-built Shinkansen
trains, was greenlit by the first Trump administration.
But land acquisition and political opposition have stalled progress.
The federal government has now withdrawn $64 million in funding, with
Secretary Duffy calling the project “a waste of taxpayer funds.”
Backers say the project is with station sites and a quarter of land
needed along the route already acquired, but without billions in fresh
investment, construction cannot begin.
It’s all politics
Transportation policy, like much else in Washington, has become sharply
partisan. President Biden, nicknamed “Amtrak Joe” for his love of
commuting by train, secured in his 2021 infrastructure law. Much of
that money is flowing into the Northeast Corridor to repair ageing
tunnels and bridges, with some funds set aside to restore services to
cities long abandoned by passenger rail.
The Trump administration has taken a different approach, demanding that
Amtrak focus on improving on-time performance before expanding. Only in
early 2025. One long-distance route between Virginia to Florida had
just a 34% on-time arrival rate. Freight trains, which have priority
on shared tracks, are a persistent obstacle.
Even with the billions promised by Biden, the United States remains far
behind other countries. China will have 31,000 miles of high-speed rail
by the end of this year, all built since 2008, with plans for more than
43,000 miles by 2035.
Bright out west
The lone bright spot for high-speed rail in the United States may be
taking shape in the Mojave Desert. Brightline West, a privately owned
218-mile line linking Rancho Cucamonga, east of Los Angeles, with Las
Vegas has begun early construction and is expected to ramp up in late
2025. The future sibling to Brightline — the privately owned and
operated Miami-Orlando railroad, which has operated successfully in
Florida since its 2018 debut, although at a maximum 125mph it is not
true high-speed rail — Brightline West was first mooted in 2018.
The $10.4 billion project secured a $3-billion federal grant in October
2024, making it the only high-speed rail venture in the country to
retain its federal support.
The line will run along the Interstate 15 corridor, slicing through the
San Bernardino Mountains and across the desert. Once complete, it
promises to cut journey times to just over an hour — a vast
improvement on the four-plus hours by car or bus. It will also mark the
return of passenger trains to Las Vegas for the first time in three
decades; Amtrak cancelled its Desert Wind route in 1997.
Yet timing remains uncertain. Originally scheduled to open in 2027, the
line is now projected for 2028 or early 2029. Brightline hopes to
capture around 12 million of the roughly 50 million annual one-way
trips between Las Vegas and LA, 85% of which are made by road.
The trains themselves — 10 Siemens-built electric sets from the
Velaro family, the same used by Eurostar and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn
— are designed to reach 217 miles per hour, placing them firmly in
the international high-speed category.
If Brightline West succeeds, it could serve as a template for future
privately financed high-speed rail projects elsewhere in the country.
Together with California’s ambitions, should they come to fruition,
the line could show that high-speed rail is not only feasible but
transformative for American intercity travel.
For now, though, such examples remain the exception. With few credible
projects elsewhere, and with legal and political battles still
hampering California, the outlook isn’t good.
Which is why — despite its relatively low average speeds and its
reliance on ageing tracks — even the modest debut of Amtrak’s new
Acela is being greeted by rail advocates as a small but welcome
victory.
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