• Yup, lots of other countries have really cool high speed rail.
• To recap, America 2050 director Petra Todorovich and Infrastructurist editor Melissa Lafsky took to the cable news networks to talk high speed rail. Some discussions were fair and reasonable…others less so.
• California was the clear stimulus winner…so which corridor in CA will get the bulk of the cash? One CA High-Speed Rail Authority board member thinks Los Angeles-to-Anaheim is clearly winning. (MercuryNews)
• So what happens when the $8 billion dries up? Many states have been less-than-forthcoming about how they plan to pay for the completion of HSR projects. Experts say most are counting on the feds to cover at least half of their costs over the next few decades. (ABC News)
• The California High Speed Rail Authority is looking abroad for planning advice, and is is expected to approve a memorandum of understanding with Korea, which has had a high-speed rail network since 2004. (SFExaminer)
• A former councilman in Waterloo, Wis., argues that that a high speed rail line passing through could harm small towns more than help, by lowering property values near the tracks. (NBC)
• And what of Amtrak? The wayward passenger rail system says it needs $11 billion in new rail equipment during the next 14 years. Where that money will come from remains undetermined. (BusinessWeek)
February 5th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Even Africa will have HSR before the USA.
February 7th, 2010 at 4:04 am
[...] The Week In High Speed Rail [...]
February 8th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Has anybody actually done studies about the effects that HSR/Public Transit in general, has on property values? A proper study of systems across a country with concrete factual data of the before and after prices etc. I don’t know of one, unless I missed something, which of course is entirely possible. I would think ease of access to such systems would increase the property values regardless of the few negatives that come with them often times.
The Dallas North Tollway and SH-75 heading into Dallas run through the middle of the some of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the USA. Tom Hicks has a house worth $ 40 Million right next to the highway. How is a rail line any different than a 4 or 6 lane highway?
In the case of Madison - Milwaukee HSR or any HSR system for that matter, look at the towns in between the two major destinations. ask who wants a station and if there are more towns like Waterloo who don’t want the station bypass them. They don’t want it, they don’t get it. Simple as.
February 8th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
I don’t know studies about HSR, but I’ve seen studies about heavy rail. Els increase property values by a factor of 2, despite the common belief that they bring blight; subways increase property values by a factor of 4-10. I don’t have a link for it, though.
I’ve also seen a separate study, for which I may be able to find a link, showing that properties located near light rail lines have kept their value better in the housing bust.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Any location that is near an access point for rail is likely to have increased property values. Access point is the key word though…There is no stop for Waterloo. This means that Waterloo gets all of the noise of passing trains, but none of the benefits of connection. Thats a net negative for them.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Danny I agree with you, as I said, If it turns out to be a net negative for them bypass the town, its got 3500 people, 4 sq miles. Going around them won’t be that hard.
Looking at the track it passes by more warehouses than it does residences. Its at grade so the 7 roads that cross the track would have to be rail over/under. So going around them would be a money saver I think.
February 16th, 2010 at 1:06 am
“• A former councilman in Waterloo, Wis., argues that that a high speed rail line passing through could harm small towns more than help, by lowering property values near the tracks. ”
Frankly, who CARES?
Take the most direct route from Milwaukee to Madison. The number of people travelling between the two cities in a month probably exceeds the entire population of Waterloo!
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:43 am
Nathan, That is easy to say when it doesn’t impact you. Waterloo has already been hit hard with the closure of one of its largest employers within the last 5 years. The community has not recovered from that. Now you want to send HSR through the middle of town effectively cutting the town in half. I know several people whose homes are right on the rail line including one business that will probably have to be removed to make room for the fencing that is proposed to make the HSR safe. I would be happy to sell you my house in Waterloo before the HSR comes through. Just think, you would be only about half an hour from the stop in Madison.
Waterloo will see none of the benefits from the HSR, but will get the majority of the headaches. Granted it may be a smaller community, but it is also the hardest hit community with the volume of road closures that is being proposed because of the cost of trying to run the rail lines over or under the roads.