As with any major infrastructure project, the question of cost is an important one. And so the San Jose Mercury News on Sunday examined the issue of HSR costs in a front-page article. The article, by Mike Rosenberg and Gary Richards, has some good points about HSR, but overall seems to repeat the common flaw [...]

In the absence of a long-term federal funding source for HSR funds, we have to take what we can get, when we can get it. In that vein, the CHSRA today announced that they are applying for another $2.3 billion in federal HSR grants. From the press release sent to me via email: Today’s announcement [...]

In a major development with plenty of importance for the California High Speed Rail project, Taiwan’s high speed rail project generated an operating profit in 2009. Of course, HSR lines across the world routinely generate operating profits, so Taiwan isn’t breaking any new ground here. So why is this a “major development”? Taiwan’s HSR system [...]

There is a tension in American life right now between those who want to do everything on the cheap – even if it means inferior or even failing services, even if it means long-term recession – and those who see value in making a long-term investment so that we do things right, whether that “thing” [...]