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Everywhere you look, from Argentina to Saudi Arabia, there’s a country planning a new high-speed rail line. Inspired by the success of fast train systems in Europe and Japan, politicians see these links as a way to speed travel between major cities, reduce carbon emissions, and spark smart urban development. President Obama shares those goals and devoted $8 billion to HSR in the stimulus bill.
This chart compares seven lines on four continents that are either in the engineering phase or already under construction. They range in size from the diminutive 34-mile project that will connect Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to the gargantuan 818-mile link between Beijing and Shanghai. The variations in construction cost per mile and local meaning of the term “high speed” are almost as great.
See the full-sized version of the chart after the jump.
Click below for the larger version:
Yonah Freemark is an independent researcher currently working in France on comparative urban development as part of a Gordon Grand Fellowship from Yale University, from which he graduated in May 2008 with a BA in architecture. He writes about transportation and land use issues for The Transport Politic and The Infrastructurist.
Tags: THE RAIL WORLD
You forgot the Hokuriku Shinkansen and Kyushu Shinkansen.
Thanks, Yonah for this wonderful chart. It is a wonderful way to compare and contrast the different rail projects happening around the world. Keep up the good work!
Hey, did you guys MEAN to put in the little subtext over the larger image option “womencantdrive”? I hope not.
The Infrastructurist — your go-to spot for sexism and public works!
So the answer to your (very worthwhile) question is: yes, we meant to, but in a different context. Namely, for this story:
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/02/19/magazine-claims-women-dont-have-the-driving-gene/
But for some reason the tag is still showing up. Will look into it. Thanks for the heads up.
-Jebediah
Don’t you think it is time to use metric units?
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Great infochart! Tufte would be proud.
So what’s the deal with the lozenges? San Jose is about 1.3 million, vs 800K for SF…
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good chart.. great details… and simple.. i linked to it from my blog…
[...] [...]
no!! do your science fair project!!!!!!
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Is the Proposed Trans Global Highway a solution for future population concerns and global warming?
One excellent solution to future population concerns as well as alleviating many of the effects of potential global warming is the Frank Didik proposal for the construction of the “Trans Global Highway”. The Didik proposed Trans Global Highway would create a world wide network of standardized roads, railroads, water pipe lines, oil and gas pipelines, electrical and communication cables. The result of this remarkable, far sighted project will be global unity through far better distribution of resources, including heretofore difficult to obtain or unaccessible raw materials, fresh water, finished products and lower global transportation costs.
With greatly expanded global fresh water distribution, arid lands could be cultivated resulting in a huge abundance of global food supplies. The most conservative estimate is that with the construction of the Trans Global Highway, the planet will be able to feed several billion more people, using presently available modern farming technologies. With the present global population of just under 7 billion people and at the United Nations projection of population increase, the world will produce enough food surpluses to feed the expected increased population for several hundred years.
Thomas Robert Malthus’s famous dire food shortage predictions of 1798 and his subsequent books, over the next 30 years, failed to take into consideration modern advances in farming, transportation, food storage and food abundance. Further information on the proposed Trans Global Highway can be found at http://www.TransGlobalHighway.com .