FREE ESSAY ON THE EFFECT OF HIGHSPEED TRAINS ON SOCIETY

THE EFFECT OF HIGHSPEED TRAINS ON SOCIETY

A major reason in favor of the construction of high-speed trains in America is to relieve
airways and traffic congestion. First, delays at airports are costly. Larry Johnson,
director of the Center for transportation Research at Argonne National Laboratory near
Chicago, calculates that passengers lose more that twelve million hours each year in
delays at O'Hare airport alone. In 1986, according to the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) airlines, delays cost five billion dollars, including two billion in extra fuel and
labor cost, for the ailing airline industry. According to the FAA, relieving airport
congestion will cost one hundred and seventeen billion over the next decade (Mobey 14).
Transportation planners predict that freeways will suffer from unbearable gridlock over
the next two decades. Their conventional wisdom maintains that the U.S. cannot build out
of this congestion. The Southern California Association of Governments says that daily
commute time, in the Los Angeles area will double by two thousand and twenty and
"unbearable" present conditions on the freeways will become "even worse". By two thousand
and twenty, drives are expected to spend 
Seve nty percent of their time in stop-and-go traffic, as compared to fifty six percent
today. Similar predictions have been made for metro areas around the country. Yet the
best alternatives that they can offer are to spend billions more on public transport that
hardly anyone will use and to try to force people into carpools that do not fit the ways
they actually live and work (Samuel p 1). Highway traffic is also costly. Maintaining the
interstate highway system could run three trillion dollars over the next several decades
(Moberg 14). Urban congestion is a hidden tax on the productivity and welfare of urban
areas everywhere. In areas like Los Angeles and New York, this tax is eight billion
dollars per year; nationally, about fifty six billion per year. In the next twenty years,
this insidious tax is projected to nearly double (Mallinckarodt p1). Bill Fay said," Cars
stuck in traffic waste more fuel and emit more pollutants than cars that are moving"(Dahl
4). High occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are one of the primary tools used to reduce
traffic congestion on the state highway system and improve air quality ("HOV Lanes in
California …" p1). The usual goal of HOV lane restrictions is to provide overall
congestion, and emissions reduction (Mallinckdet. p 1). However, in recent years, HOV
lanes effectiveness in achieving these goals has come in to question ("HOV Lanes in
California …" p1). When drivers use a highway, they do not pay the cost that they
may be imposing on other drivers. Ideally, traffic should flow smoothly at the speed
limit. However, as traffic increases, eventually the addition of one more vehicle will
slow the flow and increase the travel time of other vehicles. At this point congestion
(the negative externality) begins (Dahl p4). Sen Daniel Patrick Moynihan said," The train
technology, offers great opportunities to reduce congestion in our surface and air
transportation system" (Clough 9). Thus building high-speed trains would aid the problem
of increasing congestion at America's airports and on the highways.
Those who argue against high-speed trains cite their negative effects to the environment.
Environmental concerns have been raised with respect to high-speed rail. High-speed
rail's ability to materially reduce air pollution and energy consumption is dependent
upon significantly reducing automobile and airline use ( Dahl p2). The FDOT's (Florida
Department of Transportation) projections, anticipate so few people transferring from
autos and air that any air pollution or energy gain would be inconsequential. Further,
construction of major infrastructure projects consumes energy. It has been estimated that
San Francisco's BART rapid transit system consumed more energy in construction than the
future diversion from automobiles would save (Dahl p4). Burning fossil fuels, a process
that expends approximately two times as much energy as it produces, generates most
Florida electric power. Electric propulsion thus loses some of its advantage over fossil
fuel propulsion (Johnson 2). Additionally French Champagne growers claim that high-speed
rail embankments trap cold air, threatening their crops. A similar effect in Florida
could make preservation of adjacent citrus crops more challenging (Dahl 1). However,
students are now being educated on the rail system and the positive effects it can bring
to the environment by reducing pollution so more and more people are using the rail
transit system. Ensuring that high-speed trains will be stable, designers have minimized
the amount of fuel required to run the trains, both to limit pollution from the power
plant that provides the electricity and to save on the costs of electricity. To achieve
the greatest speed for the lowest cost, the trains, have to be aerodynamically designed
to minimize the amount of drag that is produced when they race down the track (Raoul
"Optimizing Shape aerodynamics" p1) Today in the United States there is a very big
problem with transportation systems. The problem consists of overly populated roads;
airways and our modes of transportation are destroying the environment and burning all of
our fossil fuels. One over looked possible solution to the transportation problem in the
United States is high-speed trains. Trains have proven to be an effective mode of
transportation in many countries and also these same countries do not share the same
transportation problems we have. The negative effects to the French Champagne growers
have not been proven. They claim it does that but they are in a different part of the
world and a different climate then us. 
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