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5-1-2012
Analyzing the United States Department of Transportations implementation strategy for high speed rail: Three case studies
Ryan Robinson
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Robinson, Ryan, "Analyzing the United States Department of Transportations implementation strategy for high speed rail: Three case studies" (2012). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from
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ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Analyzing the United States Department of Transportations Implementation Strategy for High Speed Rail: Three Case Studies
Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Graduation Requirements for the
Master of Science
Science, Technology and Public Policy
in the
Department of Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy
College of Liberal Arts
Submitted by
Ryan Robinson
May, 2012
DEPARTMENT OF
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY/PUBLIC POLICY
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
ROCHESTER, NY
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE THESIS
May, 2012
The Master of Science degree thesis
has been examined and approved by the thesis committee
as satisfactory for the thesis requirements for the Master of Science degree in Science, Technology and Public Policy
______________________________
Ryan David Robinson
Approved by:
___________________________________________________
Franz Foltz, Ph.D., Thesis Advisor
Graduate Director, Department of Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy
College of Liberal Arts
____________________________________________________
James J. Winebrake, Ph.D., Committee Member
Dean, College of Liberal Arts
____________________________________________________
Paul DeCotis, Committee Member
Vice President of Power Markets, Long Island Power Authority
Introduction
High-speed rail (HSR) has become a major contributor to the transportation sector in multiple countries throughout Europe and Eastern Asia. As Selcraig (2010) points out, a gap exists between the U.S. and the other industrialized countries:
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Over the last 20 years, this rail ridership gap between America and the rest of the industrialized world has only widened, as China, South Korea, Japan, France, Italy, Germany and Spain committed hundreds of billions of dollars not just to seamless
networks of conventional trains (that is, those that travel at speeds below 125 mph) but to the construction of sleek, electrified, high-speed trains that can exceed 186
mph. From Shanghai to Madrid, from right-wing to socialist, governments taxed their
citizens and granted subsidies or entered into private partnerships to fund their fast trains.
Currently, there is a push by President Obama and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to implement high-speed rail in the United States at the regional level, the 100 and 600-mile range. High-speed rail transportation is an alternative that can displace some car and airport travel and also increase energy security and environmental sustainability; however, the United States, as a society based around individual regional travel, is much different than the countries that have implemented HSR thus far (DOT, 2009).
In April 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act established new transportation goals: interconnected communities and continual economic competitiveness while ensuring safe and efficient transportation. Through this act, the DOT developed an implementation framework for HSR in various regions throughout the U.S. DOT (2009) explains that HSR will be funded and implemented in the transportation sector of 100-600 miles, a regional strategy. DOT is concentrating HSR on this range rather than the shorter and long distance ranges due to the fact that HSR is the most energy and economic efficient option at the intermediate level (Dutzik, Schneider,
Baxandall, and Steva, 2010). Table 1(DOT, 2009) illustrates the way in which DOT plans
to incorporate all three sectors of transportation.
