The Proving Ground for High-Speed Rail

As highways in the United States become more congested each year and airlines fly perilously close to bankruptcy, the time is right to get serious about high-speed railroads. The centerpiece of intercity travel in Europe and Japan, high-speed rail lines are being built in South Korea and Taiwan and are planned for China. In "Running Off the Rails," veteran transportation engineer Tony R. Eastham, associate vice president of R&D at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, points out why the United States has gotten everything about high-speed rail so wrong. He urges that the Northeast Corridor become the proving ground for North America, and that superfast trains be considered for other rail corridors as well.