High Speed Rail

The Connecticut and Massachusetts congressional delegations are promoting high-speed rail in the Northeast to the new Republican congressman whose subcommittee oversees rail matters. Representative John B. Larson, a Connecticut Democrat and cochairman of the Northeast Rail Caucus, and members of the Connecticut and Massachusetts delegations hosted a series of meetings yesterday with Representative Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, chairman of the subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.

FRESNO, Calif. - California's high-speed rail authority released a fresh proposal Monday for a bullet train linking Northern and Southern California, with a price tag of $68.4 billion and a scaled-back design to address sustained criticism of a project that has been called a boondoggle and a train to nowhere. The revised proposal speeds completion to 2028, about five years earlier, and puts the cost at $30 billion less than a draft plan released last fall. However, the cost is still $25 billion more than the plan voters approved four years ago. The revised plan merges the bullet...

FRESNO, Calif. - California's high-speed rail authority released a fresh proposal Monday for a bullet train linking Northern and Southern California, with a price tag of $68.4 billion and a scaled-back design to address sustained criticism of a project that has been called a boondoggle and a train to nowhere. The revised proposal speeds completion to 2028, about five years earlier, and puts the cost at $30 billion less than a draft plan released last fall. However, the cost is still $25 billion more than the plan voters approved four years ago. The revised plan merges the bullet...

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Critics began panning the first leg of California's futuristic high-speed rail network as a "train to nowhere" soon after officials decided to build it not in the major population centers of Los Angeles or San Francisco but rather through the state's Central Valley farming belt. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Spiraling cost estimates and eroding political and public support now threaten a project crucial to a 21st-century vision of train travel that President Obama promised would transform US transportation much as interstate highways did more than half a...

State officials say final design and construction plans have been approved for high-speed rail in Western Massachusetts. US Representatives John Olver and Richard Neal, Senator John F. Kerry, and federal and state transportation officials said yesterday that the US Department of Transportation has signed a $73 million grant agreement. Funding is available from federal stimulus money. Officials say the project will help upgrade the Connecticut River rail line. Amtrak’s Vermonter service will be rerouted to the line, providing a more direct route to Northampton and Greenfield.

A report commissioned by the British government has rejected alternatives to a planned high-speed train project — the clearest sign yet that the 32 billion-pound (US$49 billion) scheme will go ahead. The Network Rail review says Saturday that alternatives will cause long delays to travelers during the building stages and fail to deal with overcrowding on trains. The high-speed rail project aims to shorten journey times between London and Birmingham, and later stages include connections to more northern cities.

PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak unveiled yesterday a $117 billion, 30-year vision for a high-speed rail line on the East Coast that would drastically reduce travel times along the congested corridor using trains traveling up to 220 miles per hour. The proposal, which would require building a new set of tracks from Boston to Washington, D.C., is at the concept stage and there is no funding plan in place, Joseph Boardman, Amtrak president, said at a news conference at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.

The investigation into a bullet train crash in China last summer that killed 40 people has come and gone with scarcely any fresh information released about what led to the disaster. The secrecy surrounding the investigator's report, originally due in September and reportedly extended until late November, is typical of the sensitivities shown toward wider troubles plaguing the showcase high-speed rail program. The accident inflamed public criticism over whether the powerful Railway Ministry was sacrificing safety in its costly quest to quickly...

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Critics began panning the first leg of California's futuristic high-speed rail network as a "train to nowhere" soon after officials decided to build it not in the major population centers of Los Angeles or San Francisco but rather through the state's Central Valley farming belt. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Spiraling cost estimates and eroding political and public support now threaten a project crucial to a 21st-century vision of train travel that President Obama promised would transform US transportation much as...

WASHINGTON - Congress voted yesterday to kill funds for President Obama's rail program, but the initiative may have some life in it still. Republican lawmakers are claiming credit for killing the program. But billions of dollars still in the pipeline will ensure work will continue on some projects. And it is still possible money from another transportation grant program can be steered to higher-speed trains. Obama had requested $8 billion in fiscal 2012 for the program and $53 billion over six years.

A report commissioned by the British government has rejected alternatives to a planned high-speed train project — the clearest sign yet that the 32 billion-pound (US$49 billion) scheme will go ahead. The Network Rail review says Saturday that alternatives will cause long delays to travelers during the building stages and fail to deal with overcrowding on trains. The high-speed rail project aims to shorten journey times between London and Birmingham, and later stages include connections to more northern cities.

BEIJING - Chinese investigators delivered a long-awaited report yesterday on the deadly July 23 high-speed train crash in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou, citing a string of blunders, including serious design flaws in crucial signaling equipment. Two former top officials of the Railway Ministry - who had been removed their posts months before the crash over alleged corruption - were singled out for blame. The disaster killed 40 people and injured 191. It was a serious setback to China's hopes to turn high-speed rail into a symbol of the nation's technological and...

The investigation into a bullet train crash in China last summer that killed 40 people has come and gone with scarcely any fresh information released about what led to the disaster. The secrecy surrounding the investigator's report, originally due in September and reportedly extended until late November, is typical of the sensitivities shown toward wider troubles plaguing the showcase high-speed rail program. The accident inflamed public criticism over whether the powerful Railway Ministry was sacrificing safety in its costly quest to quickly roll out the...

WASHINGTON - Congress voted yesterday to kill funds for President Obama's rail program, but the initiative may have some life in it still. Republican lawmakers are claiming credit for killing the program. But billions of dollars still in the pipeline will ensure work will continue on some projects. And it is still possible money from another transportation grant program can be steered to higher-speed trains. Obama had requested $8 billion in fiscal 2012 for the program and $53 billion over six years.

SHANGHAI - Hundreds of people were injured yesterday when a subway train slammed into the rear of another train in a sprawling transit line that opened just last year. The accident cast new scrutiny on the safety record of China's rapidly modernizing mass transit rail systems. The state-run media reported that 271 people were injured during the afternoon accident in the Shanghai Metro system. Xinhua, the official news agency, said that equipment failure was believed to be responsible and that the accident was under investigation.

IF THE US Postal Service closes its Boston processing facility, it would be a blow to the 1,300 people who work there, and for their communities. But the volume of mail is declining sharply because of e-mail, online bill payment, and other changes. Some cutbacks are necessary, and building a huge new processing plant in South Boston, as is currently planned, makes little sense: It might be obsolete before it opens. Therefore, the recent news that the US Postal Service is rethinking its Boston plans isn't entirely unwelcome.

With the federal high-speed rail program on life support, a study released by a Cambridge think tank yesterday makes the case for long-term investment in bullet trains - and for targeting the money to the Northeast and California, instead of sprinkling it throughout the country. The "megaregions" between Boston and Washington, D.C., and San Francisco and Los Angeles most closely mirror in population and distance the global corridors where trains already move millions of riders a day at speeds approaching or exceeding 200 miles an hour, including Paris-Lyon in...

BEIJING - China's infatuation with high-speed rail soured at bullet train velocity. Six months ago, the rail network was a success symbol and the basis of a planned high-tech export industry. But after a July crash that killed 40 people, Beijing has suspended new construction and is recalling problem-plagued trains, raising questions about the future of such prestige projects. It was an extraordinary reversal for a project that once had political status on a level with China's manned space program.

With the federal high-speed rail program on life support, a study released by a Cambridge think tank yesterday makes the case for long-term investment in bullet trains - and for targeting the money to the Northeast and California, instead of sprinkling it throughout the country. The "megaregions" between Boston and Washington, D.C., and San Francisco and Los Angeles most closely mirror in population and distance the global corridors where trains already move millions of riders a day at speeds approaching or exceeding 200 miles an hour, including Paris-Lyon in...

BEIJING - China's infatuation with high-speed rail soured at bullet train velocity. Six months ago, the rail network was a success symbol and the basis of a planned high-tech export industry. But after a July crash that killed 40 people, Beijing has suspended new construction and is recalling problem-plagued trains, raising questions about the future of such prestige projects. It was an extraordinary reversal for a project that once had political status on a level with China's manned space program.