• How many people used China’s new Wuhan-Guangzhou line during the Chinese New Year festival? More than a million, and that’s just during the first 26 days of the 40-day event. Trains were 98% full. (Economist)
• London to…Beijing? China has announced that it’s in negotiations to build high speed rail lines to several European countries, including the U.K. The expansion plans also extend into Southease Asia, connecting Singapore and Vietnam. (Budget Travel)
• Did Ray LaHood royally tick off the entire airline industry by telling them, “Let me give you a little bit of political advice: Don’t be against high-speed rail” at the FAA’s annual forecasting conference? (WSJ)
• Author Christian Wolmar writes an op-ed in the New York Times arguing that the Acela should be made into a model project to demonstrate that we can successfully get HSR going in the U.S. (NYT)
• On this topic, the New Republic brings up a good point: In the Northeast, Amtrak and state governments own the actual rails. But in most of the country, Amtrak and commuter train services run under agreements with freight railroads — which hold a dedicated right-of-way that’s not going away. (TNR)
• We’ve discussed some of the ways that planning for HSR can go very wrong. Here, the CHSR Blog offers an example of doing it right. (CHSRB)
• Remember that $810 million in federal money for an HSR line between Madison and Milwaukee? Sounds great — once they figure out where it’s gonna go once it arrives in Madison. (Wkowtv)
• But will California HSR plans plow straight through certain hard-won plans for commuter rail? (AP)






It’ s been a rough year so far for train-related deaths in the Northeast. There were the 
When it comes to travel, Americans appear to value safety over convenience — at least, according to the answers of the 1,007 people who took an online survey about it. According to
• Just how is the U.S. “No-Fly” list (which has nearly doubled in size since Christmas) created? The AP investigates. (

Global warming has hit the courts: Victims of Hurricane Katrina have 
• Conclusions from the High Speed Rail 2010 conference in Orlando: HSR’s success in the U.S. lies in “effectively promoting and selling it as a safe, convenient, environmentally friendly mode of transportation.” Yeah, that and actually providing the product we’re selling. (
We want high speed rail to succeed in the U.S. For one, there’s a lot of time, money, and other resources that have already been spent, or will be soon, on HSR. Also, it has enormous potential to galvanize travel, communities, economies of scale, and even the national economy, not to mention create thousands of desperately-needed jobs.
Take that, Bunning! Last night, President Obama 




