Western High Speed Rail Alliance Suggests Additional Routes

Western High Speed Rail Alliance suggests additional routes for the future.

"A newly created alliance of local transit agencies will try to persuade federal authorities that stimulus money should be used on high-speed rail corridor studies, a move that could put Las Vegas back on the map as a railroad town."

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/18/alliance-pushes-high-speed-train-corridor/

"The Railroad Administration’s plan for high-speed rail includes corridors in California, the Pacific Northwest and east of the Mississippi River, but nothing in the Intermountain West. The alliance contends that Western cities such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver will be among the fastest growing in the next few decades and should be connected with high-speed rail."

"The alliance is important to Las Vegas because the city is a key hub in the regional network. A rough route map presented by Skancke at a meeting of the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in October showed routes linking Las Vegas with Phoenix and Salt Lake City as priorities. Other priority routes include Phoenix to Los Angeles, Salt Lake City to Denver and Salt Lake City to Reno."

"The alliance has acknowledged a route linking Las Vegas with Los Angeles is a high priority that is being pursued by competing private interests. Snow said the Regional Transportation Commission has met regularly with the developers of DesertXpress and the American Magline Group, which want to build lines between Las Vegas and Southern California. The commission is neutral in its support of DesertXpress, which plans a traditional high-speed rail, or American Magline, which backs magnetic-levitation transport."

In addition to this new alliance, within the same article JAPAN is interested in selling some of its High Speed Bullet Train technology to the United States.

"On Dec. 7, the Central Japan Railway Co., operator of the famed Shinkansen “bullet train,” told an audience at UNLV it is interested in bringing its technology to the United States. The presentation was the fourth in a series of high-speed rail forums sponsored by UNLV’s Transportation Research Center and the Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce."

This is all very interesting information for any train buff, or person or public that is interested in getting on the high speed train game. As more and more transportation dollars gets approved states and organizations will end up having a mishmash of different trains to transfer to and from as technology gets cheeper and cheeper. Something to think about in trying to link states together.

Keep flying on the ground!

Maglev News.