High Speed Rail: Change That Should Matter

Several new Republican governors are already preparing to kill nascent high speed rail projects in their states. It was actually a campaign promise. These projects are funded by stimulus dollars, and are part of a high profile effort by the Obama Administration to improve rail transportation across the country. If you’ve ridden on Amtrack and ridden trains in Europe or Japan, you know there is a lot of room for improvement. Trains can also play an important role in a greener energy and transportation systems. There are good reasons to support these programs. I’m not as familiar with the good reasons to oppose them. Yes, there are other projects that could be funded. But killing Obama’s program and trying to sabotage the Administration’s attempts at a recovery that they could lay claim to would seem to be the driving reasons behind opposing high speed rail projects. I would like to see a debate on the merits of these programs, but I’m not expecting one. The Republicans aren’t interested in any kind of substantive debate and the Democrats aren’t interested in really forcing the issue as opposed to just whining about the situation. A debate on this issue, to borrow the Democrat’s slogan, would be “change that matters.” I don’t think we’re going to get change that matters.