Okay, let me get right to the point!
I think there should be a high speed maglev train system running from Texas
running west into the sunbelt, extending at least as far west as Phoenix or Las
Vegas, if not L.A. as well, and at least as far east as the Dallas - Waco -
Austin - San Antonio corridor, which would particularly benefit from the
intra-Texas service. Interim stops at El Paso, Albuquerque, and Tuscon would be
natural to expect. If more cities (perhaps even some cities in northwest Mexico)
can be included, so much the better, and if the station locations can be chosen
to encourage smart urban growth from the point of view of each metro area, that
will also be a major benefit. I also think that this train, and all of its
supporting systems, should be "powered by the sun", at least symbolically.
I live in Texas, and for years now I have casually discussed the idea of high-speed train service connecting the major Texas cities with Texas residents. Everyone seems to love the idea of travelling from Austin to Dallas (about 200 miles) in under two hours on a train. And why wouldn't they? It takes at least three hours to fly anywhere, and it can't really be done without burning a lot of fossil fuels, not to mention strapping oneself into a cramped seat purchased weeks in advance. Electric trains are relatively comfortable, reasonably safe, and can run on any electric energy source, including the abundant solar energy available in the American southwest. Finally, note that a train, unlike an airplane, does not have to be full every time it runs in order to be economically viable. Imagine the convenience of choosing from 3 different trains from Austin to L.A. every day, without the need to buy tickets more than a day or two in advance. What would that do for the regional economy?
So, if you like this idea, and you're asking yourself "hey, why don't we have high speed trains in Texas? They have them in Japan and Spain and France and Germany and a whole lotta other places less magnificent than Texas," then you may be interested in stoking your indignation at the powers-that-be by reading this summary of the Squashed attempt to build high speed rail in Texas in the mid 1990s. Notice in particular this part: "The first job was to conduct an environmental impact study, for the sum of 170 million dollars. The money proved difficult to assemble..."
Their explanation of why Texas TGV hasn't happened makes me wonder whether it might make sense to pursue an open-source approach to environmental impact reports. It seems to me that the people you need to do an EIR (biologists, geologists, lawyers, etc.) are knowledge workers who aren't so different in temperament than computer programmers. Perhaps we could find a way to organize some people like this do an EIR for a worthwhile project without being paid up front. There are a variety of ways the participants could benefit financially and in terms of their reputation (which can be translated into money or other benefits in various ways). Does anyone think Linus Torvalds hasn't benefited from creating Linux? More importantly, haven't many other people benefitted as well?
More data on the Texas TGV: Maps of franchised and alternate routes. The texasfreeway.com site also has lots of other interesting info about the transportation situation in Texas. Note that above this map the editor said: "It would have been nice to have the TGV in Texas, but it was just too expensive." To which I say, PHOOEY! We have bazillions to build roads and subsidize airports, but not to build clean, quiet, fast trains? What's up with that? What about the economic benefits to Texas? What about the jobs created, both short term (e.g. construction jobs) and long term? More people travelling conveniently in Texas means more people staying in Texas hotels, visiting cultural attractions, eating in restaurants, and so on.
I first posted this idea on the web in 2002. The result so far is that I got a few emails from groovy folks, but no one has had time to go any further with researching or promoting the idea. As the web continues to get more viable as a research and organization medium, and as the needs for post-petroleum transportation systems becomes clearer environmentally, economically, and politically, I keep coming back to this idea in my mind. It's December 2005 now, and the current plan is to pull together some more links and graphics and post them here as soon as I can, starting with this news page. If you are interested in these ideas, and/or have experiences and insights to share, let me know by sending email to solartrain AT scrutable DOT com. If there's enough interest, we'll get an online discussion group started and go from there.
