(NewsNation) — High-speed trains can travel at over 200 miles per hour and are twice as fast as a car, and now, they’re getting a big boost from the Biden administration.
Last year, the federal government announced it’s allocating $3 billion for a planned high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area. Called the Brightline West project, it has been talked about for decades.
The $3 billion grant is part of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal passed by Congress in 2021.
It’s expected to bring 11,000 construction jobs to the area and alleviate traffic gridlock between the two major cities.
“With high-speed rail, you can go places twice as fast as you can by driving, which leads to more productive, more innovative business relationships and stronger family relationships,” Rick Harnish, the executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, said.
However, are they safe?
Three people were killed recently following two high-speed train crashes within 48 hours of each other at the same railroad crossing, prompting an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
In Florida, Brightline passenger trains with a top speed of approximately 125 miles per hour have been involved in several crashes since 2017. More than 100 people have been killed in accidents with Brightline trains, or about one for every 38,000 miles, giving it the worst death rate among the nation’s 800 railroads.
These accidents come primarily at railroad crossings where motorists attempt to drive around the gate to beat the train.
Brightline trains reduced speeds to under 70 miles per hour in densely populated areas, but that still may not be enough to stop in time.
“It’s up to people eventually to understand that you can’t race a train, you’re not going to win,” Sgt. Benjamin Slover, of the Melbourne Police Department in Florida, said.
Experts, though, say not only do the trains reduce traffic with the capacity to hold 500 to 1000 passengers, but they’re also cheaper, more fuel efficient, faster and (despite recent accidents) safer.
“The safest crossing is one that’s either the road goes over the tracks on a bridge, or the tracks go over the road on a bridge,” Hardick said.
Some areas of the country are already on board with high-speed rails. The Acela, Amtrak’s flagship passenger train, travels to the Northeast corridor at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. With the addition of the LA to Vegas train expected in time for the 2028 Olympics, and the LA to San Francisco rail project already underway, the middle of the country is lagging far behind.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
