Getting on the Fast Track: The Implementation Challenges of High-Speed Rail in the United States of America

Abstract

The vast majority of Americans support the domestic implementation of high-speed rail (HSR) for a wide variety of reasons, yet the United States is decades behind other high-income countries in HSR implementation. This thesis investigates why the U.S. has been unable to implement HSR nationwide through a qualitative analysis of Congressional testimonies, existing scholarly literature, and journalistic reporting. The dearth of HSR is in part due to historic prioritization of aviation and highways rather than a modern passenger rail system. But the failure to build a national HSR system also shows how the U.S. has lost the ability to implement large-scale projects for the public good because such projects require too many decisionmakers, at all levels of government and often across multiple states, to cooperate with one another. This thesis presents case studies of a successful private project in Florida, the floundering public project in California, and the ambiguous situation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The conclusion, especially given the current political climate, is that federal and state governments should incentivize private projects akin to Florida’s Brightline as much as possible while directing most federal funds to the NEC and regrouping to form a narrow, cohesive plan for HSR implementation nationwide.