US high-speed rail map shows proposed routes

The US Association of High Speed ​​Rail (USHSR) released a map outlining its proposal for a new 17,000-mile national high-speed rail network across the United States, which it claims will “shorten our footprint carbonite of epic proportions”.

Under the plan, which the USSR proposes to build in four phases, it would be possible to travel between Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Miami, Florida; and Boston, Massachusetts, entirely on high-speed 220-mile-per-hour rail lines.

Recent years have seen a resurgence in interest in high-speed rail across the United States, after decades of little activity. A number of lines are proposed or under construction. Integrated high-speed rail networks already exist in much of Western Europe, Japan and China, which, according to Statista, had a network 25,000 miles long in 2021.

The first phase of the new network proposed by the USSR would see construction focused around seven regions, including lines connecting Dallas with San Antonio and Houston, Chicago with Minneapolis and Detroit, and New York City with Washington, DC.

This phase includes the completion of the California High Speed ​​Rail, a line already under construction that is intended to run between San Francisco and Los Angeles. He also proposes a line connecting Las Vegas, Nevada, to Los Angeles, similar to a line currently under construction that would connect Las Vegas to southern California.

This phase also includes plans to build a new high-speed rail line connecting Houston and Dallas in Texas, which President Biden approved in principle in April but has yet to receive full approval. Planning is also underway on a high-speed rail line connecting Dallas to Fort Worth, though details remain unclear at this stage.

The second phase of the USSR plan would extend the lines built in the first phase, with the Northeast Corridor line running to Boston and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Texas line would run east and north through New Orleans and Nashville, connecting with the network built in the first phase around Chicago.

A number of other lines built in the first phase would also be expanded while new lines would be built connecting Denver to Albuquerque, Kansas City and St. Louis. Louis and Oklahoma City with Tulsa.

In the third phase, a line would be built connecting the existing California and Northwest network from Eugene, Oregon, to Sacramento, while Las Vegas would be connected to Dallas and Jackson, Mississippi, via another railroad. A new line between Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver is also proposed at this stage, along with extensions connecting the northeast network to Detroit and Montreal in Canada.

Finally, the fourth phase of the USSR proposal would include new lines connecting Salt Lake City to existing networks via Seattle and Sacramento. Denver would connect with Kansas City, Omaha and Minneapolis, while Dallas would connect with Memphis, St. Louis and Louisville.

Speaking of Newsweek about the plan, Andy Kunz, CEO of USSR, said: “The Obama-Biden administration set a goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years. Such nationwide access remains the goal ours.”

On its official website, the USSR says the new network would “revitalize our economy, reactivate our manufacturing sector, create millions of jobs, end our dependence on oil, reduce congestion, it would create access to vast tracts of affordable housing and cut our carbon footprint to epic proportions.”

He continues: “Powered by electricity, this system provides sustainable, affordable and safe mobility for all.”

USSR was founded in 2009 as a non-profit organization to campaign for the construction of new high-speed rail networks across the US. It works with trade associations, manufacturers and engineering firms to lobby various levels of government in support of its plans.