US high-speed rail map shows proposed routes

The U.S. High Speed Rail Association (USHSR) published a map outlining its proposal for a new 17,000-mile national high-speed rail network across the United States, which it claims will “cut our carbon footprint by epic proportions.”

Under the plan, which the USHSR proposes to build in four stages, it would be possible to travel between Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Miami, Florida; and Boston, Massachusetts, entirely on 220-mile-per-hour high-speed rail lines.

The past few years have seen a renaissance in high-speed rail interest across the United States, following decades of little activity. A number of lines are either proposed or under construction. Integrated high-speed rail networks already exist across much of Western Europe, Japan, and China, which, according to Statista, had a 25,000-mile-long network in 2021.

The first stage of the new network proposed by the USHSR would see construction focused around seven regions, including lines connecting Dallas to San Antonio and Houston, Chicago to Minneapolis and Detroit, and New York City to Washington, D.C.

This stage includes the completion of the California High-Speed Rail, a line already under construction that is intended to run between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It also proposes a line linking Las Vegas, Nevada, to Los Angeles, similar to a line currently being built that will connect Las Vegas to southern California.

Also incorporated into this stage are plans to build a new high-speed rail line connecting Houston and Dallas in Texas, which President Biden endorsed in principle in April but has yet to receive full approval. Planning is also underway on a high-speed rail line linking Dallas to Fort Worth, though details remain vague at this stage.

The second stage of the USHSR’s plan would extend the lines built in the first stage, with the northeast corridor line going all the way up to Boston and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Texas line would be extended to the east and north via New Orleans and Nashville, linking up with the network built in the first stage around Chicago.

A number of other lines built in the first stage would also be extended while new lines would be built linking Denver to Albuquerque, Kansas City and St. Louis and Oklahoma City to Tulsa.

In the third stage, a line would be constructed linking the existing California and northwest network from Eugene, Oregon, to Sacramento, while Las Vegas would be linked to Dallas and Jackson, Mississippi, via another railway. A new line between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver is also proposed at this stage, along with expansions linking the northeastern network to Detroit and Montreal in Canada.

Finally, the fourth stage of the USHSR proposal would include new lines linking Salt Lake City to existing networks via Seattle and Sacramento. Denver would be connected to Kansas City, Omaha, and Minneapolis, while Dallas would be linked to Memphis, St. Louis, and Louisville.

Speaking to Newsweek about the plan, Andy Kunz, CEO of the USHSR, said: “The Obama-Biden Administration set a goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years. Such nationwide access remains our goal.”

On its official website, the USHSR says the new network would “revitalize our economy, reactivate our manufacturing sector, create millions of jobs, end our oil dependency, reduce congestion, create access to vast areas of affordable housing, and cut our carbon footprint by epic proportions.”

It continues: “Powered by electricity, this system provides sustainable, affordable, safe mobility for all.”

The USHSR was founded in 2009 as a nonprofit organization to campaign for the construction of new high-speed rail networks across the U.S. It works with trade associations, manufacturers and engineering firms to lobby different levels of government in support of its plans.