Benefits of high speed Train

1.Less smog in the city: While there is still some controversy over which form of transportation is more fuel efficient, trains or cars, the amount of smog and pollution released into the city is much less with a high speed train than with the number of cars necessary to transport the same amount of people.
2.Reverse sprawl: High speed trains could reverse the current tendency for cities to sprawl as wide as they can, with lots of new growth on the fringes and a neglected city center. A high speed rail network could revitalize America?s ?Main Streets?.
3.Increased walkability: Fewer cars in the city centers means more space for people, and the push toward more walkable cities benefits more than just those who live there.
4.More efficient use of time: Riding a train instead of driving frees up your attention and time to focus on the things you want from getting more work done to getting more downtime to catch up on your reading. And for trips of less than 400 miles, high speed trains can get you from downtown to downtown in about the same amount of time that air travel can, at a much lower cost.
5.Reduced congestion: What price do we put on the time we?re stuck in traffic? How about $87.2 billion a year lost in automotive gridlock? If you live in a city with horribly congested freeways, you may be spending more time sitting than you do actually driving. But since a single train track can carry the same amount of people as a 10 lane highway, high speed trains could help relieve some of that traffic jam angst.
6.Reduced dependence on foreign oil: A high speed rail network carrying electric trains could be powered by renewable energy sources, reducing our need for foreign oil, with all of its accompanying side effects.
7.Safer than driving: Tens of thousands of people die each year in automobile accidents, but trains are one of the safest forms of transportation we currently have.
High speed trains in the Midwest would be three times as energy efficient as cars and six times as energy efficient as planes. Choosing rail travel over driving or flying will decrease our dependence on foreign oil and reduce air pollution that causes global warming and harms public health.
Currently, major portions of the Midwest suffer from ?severe? smog problems,according to federal regulators. The construction of high speed rail will decrease the region?s reliance on automotive transportation and therefore help reduce ozone emissions.Downtown train stations will pull jobs, people and business back into the country?s central cities thus reversing sprawl.High speed rail reduces the need for new outlying highways and airports which exacerbate sprawl.At distances of less than 400 miles, high speed trains can deliver you downtown to downtown almost as fast as airplanes at a fraction of the cost, and can do so in virtually all weather.With wide seats, fax machines, places to plug in your laptop computer, and food service, high speed trains provide a convenient, productive alternative to cars and airplanes.

The economic value of the improved mobility has been valued at $13.2 billion through 2030.High speed rail offers convenient service to most of the region?s major airports, allowing residents of smaller communities the benefits of affordable long distance travel.Constructing a Midwest high speed rail network supports commuter and light rail. In Chicago, for example, high speed trains will share Union Station with METRA commuter trains, increasing ridership on both.High speed rail will provide $1.3 billion in highway congestion relief and $700 million in airport congestion relief.A single railroad track can carry as many people as a ten lane highway at a fraction of the cost.

For the City of Chicago, a high speed rail hub will have the equivalent economic impact of a medium sized airport located in the heart of the central business district without having to displace a single office.The Midwest?s railcar manufacturing industry will prosper as a result of the addition of high speed rail to the region.
As the redevelopment of train stations in Washington D.C. and Kalamazoo have demonstrated, train terminals can become the focal points for commercial redevelopment and promote substantial new development in surrounding areas. A study for the City of Chicago estimated that high speed rail would bring $8-10 billion dollars of new economic activity to Chicago.A high speed rail network pulls together the regional economy and promotes intra regional business growth. The economic impact of Midwestern intra regional trade greatly exceeds the potential benefits of increased trade with Canada and Mexico spurred by NAFTA.The development of improved rail service can provide a significant boost to travel and tourism by facilitating weekend leisure trips by families from smaller towns to the major cities and vice versa.
High speed rail delivers fast, efficient transportation so riders can save time, energy, and money. HSR is extremely reliable and operates in all weather conditions. HSR is not subject to congestion, so it operates on schedule every day without delay especially during rush hour and peak travel times.HSR spurs the revitalization of cities by encouraging high density, mixed use real estate development around the stations. HSR also fosters economic development in second tier cities along train routes.HSR links cities together into integrated regions that can then function as a single stronger economy.HSR broadens labor markets and offers workers a wider network of employers to choose from. HSR encourages and enables the development of technology clusters with fast easy access between locations. HSR also expands visitor markets and tourism while increasing visitor spending.The many benefits HSR delivers spread throughout regions that have HSR, encouraging economic development across a large area.
This is one important issue that Republicans and Democrats see the value in The national high speed rail network will create millions of good jobs, stimulate the economy, create entirely new industries, be the catalyst for the next real estate boom, save businesses money, increase mobility, reduce dependence on oil, reduce our annual $700 billion trade deficit, and significantly increase national security.