Center for Transportation Research News

The development of high-speed rail (passenger trains that can go up to 350 miles per hour) in the United States faces several impediments: the need for high-speed-specific safety standards, lack of funds at the state level, and a diminishing number of U.S. rail experts, due the the lack of stateside passenger rail investment. However, federal [...]

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Congress has approved $8 billion in funds for high-speed rail lines, but the “last mile” problem must be solved before high-speed trains can live up their potential to be chosen over cars by travelers.
In North Carolina, leaders hope to upgrade existing tracks to allow trains to go more than 30 percent faster. But Pat Simmons, [...]

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Article from DC.Streets. examines the reasons we build transportation infrastructure and what lies behind transportation mode decisions, using in part some research done in Texas.
Available alternatives, as it turns out, are not all that attractive. Roads do not appear to pay for themselves any more than railways do. Receipts from the federal gas [...]

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Though Thomas the Tank Engine earned a loyal following of American children in the 1980s and 1990s through his popular PBS television show, real trains have long been out of favor with the American public. Even Thomas was a British import.
Indeed, the fact that an early 20th-century steam locomotive — and not a sleek, high-speed [...]

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The Federal Railroad Administration announced it had received 278 pre-applications for high-speed rail grants.
“The response has been tremendous and shows that the country is ready for high-speed rail,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. “…it demonstrates a pent-up demand in America for the kind of fast, reliable, and sustainable transportation option people in Europe and Asia already experience every [...]

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