Effects of an increased investment into HSR by the U.S Federal Government
A Case For a substantial increase in the investment of the U.S Federal Government into High-Speed Railway Systems
One may argue that increasing the federal government's investment in the high-speed rail network in the United States will be economically and socially advantageous given the environmental advantages it will offer. First and foremost, it is critical that we draw attention to the fact that, at 29% of the nation's annual emissions budget, the transportation sector is the single greatest contributor of climate pollution in the U.S. economy. As a result, HSR will serve as a significant climate and energy security solution all in one since it is electrically driven and can function entirely on clean, safe renewable energy. Due to its low energy usage, HSR can actually minimize environmental pollutants while in use (Chester and Horvath, 2012).The International Energy Agency (IEA), which reports that rail transports 8% of passengers and 7% of freight globally while using only 2% of transport energy, provides evidence to support this claim. High-speed services over long distances also serve as an environmentally friendly substitute for short-distance air travel by lowering emissions. High-speed rail is eight times more energy efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than driving a car, according to the International Association of Railways (UIC). By doing so, it is certain to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, directly enhancing the health of Americans and having a favorable influence on the environment. Even though the construction of such a railway system involves carbon emissions, evidence shows that the carbon footprint associated with its construction and operation is only 10–11g of CO2 per km, while the construction of highways and travel on them generates about 150g and 164g of CO2 per km, respectively. In this approach, building HSR will create far fewer carbon emissions than building bigger roads and airways.
To further prevent the expected economic damage from traffic congestion to the US economy, it is imperative to significantly expand investment in HSR. Every year, Americans lose billions of dollars due to congestion, which will continue to have a negative impact on local and national economies, companies, and residents in the years to come. Americans lost 97 hours on average each year due to congestion, costing them $87 billion in 2018, or $1,348 on average for each motorist. As people may be transported from one downtown to another as quickly as or quicker than by air, HSR will enable increased mobility. The integration of HSR into America's transportation network will enhance the efficiency of both roads and airports. The Kyushu Shinkansen's launch resulted in a 30% reduction in airport congestion in Japan. By adding more transfer stations and feeder services that connect with new HSR lines, it will also boost the alternatives available to residents of rural and small urban towns. Because it is far less expensive than the never-ending task of extending highways and expanding airports, high-speed rail might be the solution that relieves those worn-out forms of transportation, according to John Wolf, an expert in the urban planning sector.In this approach, the consequences of delays and workers arriving late on the economy due to congestion will be reduced by HSR serving as a faster more efficient means of transportation. Numerous studies have experimentally shown that heavy traffic congestion has a negative impact on households' income as well as enterprises' ability to develop their employment and income. Traffic congestion will be lessened by HRS, which will have a positive economic impact on employment and income growth. In particular, a 1% increase in market access causes a 0.123% rise in real income (China)
Another argument for increased investment into HSR will be that it will substantially solve the urbanization problem in the U.S. By 2020, 48% of Americans desire to live in a town or rural location,hence, as a result of HSR, we can predict that more people will want to live in rural regions since they are tranquil and the need to travel a considerable distance to work will no longer be an obstacle. This will eliminate the issues of poor air and water quality, a lack of water supply, problems with waste disposal, and excessive energy consumption caused by overcrowding, eventually enabling an ecological burden to the cities, thriving for social growth.
Moreover, as demand falls, this will solve the issues caused by rising home prices in the USA, which reached a new high on August 11th, 2022, with California, including San Jose, having a median price of $1.9 million. This would make housing more accessible to individuals who work in those locations. This way, HSR has the potential to significantly increase the amount of residential land available in America's pricey and rapidly expanding coastal towns. In doing so, it also gives less prosperous towns a better chance at the future. This can be supported with an example from China. In such, bullet train systems connecting China’s largest cities to nearby smaller cities have made these “second tier” cities more attractive for workers and alleviated traffic congestion and pollution in megacities, according to the study, carried out by economists at Tsinghua University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Furthermore, using evidence gathered from Harvard international review it suggested that Japanese households indeed moved to outlying areas, bidding up the local price of housing, with the average price of housing in metropolitan areas ending up lower than it would have been absent HSR.
The social advantage of additional employment that HSR will bring to the economy allows us to infer that the U.S. Federal government should significantly enhance its investment in this sector. Thousands of employment will be created as a result of building high-speed rail. A $1 billion investment results in the creation of 24,000 employment. These are highly skilled positions that will resurrect the domestic rail businesses that provide goods and services for transportation. Through the commerce spawned by the economic activity and growth they stimulate, many more jobs are generated. Millions of well-paying jobs will be created through the construction of the infrastructure and system components, management of the train infrastructure, operation of the stations, and related real estate development. As a result of COVID-19 and the ensuing restructuring of many industries, high-speed rail offers another advantage: worker flexibility. High-speed rail could provide more choice and options for workers, as well as greater access to talent for employers, as many businesses now believe that a fully remote working arrangement or a twice-weekly in-office policy is not only feasible but also better for a number of well-being and productivity outcomes. Imagine Californian firms having equal access to the workforces of Oakland and Los Angeles, as well as Dallas, Austin, Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, and Chicago-Detroit.
Written by Yasmin Uzykanova
