Interstate High Speed Rail Funding | Soul Of America

Interstate High-Speed Rail Funding

America has a great network of Highways & Hub Airports but needs a magnitude larger Intercity Passenger Rail & Rapid Transit investment. As other advanced nations have proven, the latter two are keys to sustain economic productivity while reducing traffic congestion, smog & Global Warming impacts. Unfortunately, our leadership fails to prioritize them.
– Thomas Dorsey, High-Speed Rail Advocate & Travel Publisher

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Every advanced and emerging nation needs a balance of great Hub Airports, Intercity Passenger Rail, Highway, and Rapid Transit infrastructure for a Complete Passenger Transportation System.

Intercity Passenger Rail consists of High-Speed Rail, Regional Rail, and Long-Distance Rail. Rapid Transit consists of Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail, Metro Light Rail, and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

Private-owned Intercity Buses also play a role in Complete Passenger Transportation Systems.

America Must Accelerate High-Speed Rail & Rapid Transit Construction

In this series, I illuminate the WHY, HOW, WHERE and WHEN America needs more High-Speed Rail, Modernized Regional Rail, Modernized Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail, Metro Light Rail, BRT, and Sustainable Energy infrastructure. Here are my credentials studying passenger rail since 2009. I include weblinks to credible sources supporting the odyssey we must take.

Part 1 summarizes how America chose to let its Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit fall behind other advanced nations.

Part 2 summarizes the massive benefits 26 nations in Asia, Europe, and Africa already experience from High-Speed Rail (HSR), with construction underway in more nations.

Part 3 summarizes why greenhouse gas emissions have reached a tipping point in Global Warming and how smog emissions from Transportation and Energy sectors remain public health issues.

Part 4 summarizes the good, bad & ugly of our vulnerable electric grid, Electric Vehicles, regional flights, freight trucks, intercity buses, highway widening, cruise & cargo ships.

Part 5 summarizes how more Rapid Transit lines and Dedicated Bikeways can enhance mobility & productivity in our Top 200 Metro Areas as America grows from 330 million in 2020 to 390 million by 2050.

Part 6, summarizes HOW and WHERE High-Speed Rail & Modernized Regional Rail should leverage best practices from Europe to connect America’s population-dense corridors in earnest pursuit of Complete Passenger Transportation Systems.

I deemphasize slow Long-Distance Rail because it has low ridership and lacks the huge Benefits/Costs of High-Speed Rail & Regional Rail. If America follows Europe, it will build more Metro Light Rail, need less BRT.

Transportation Infrastructure of Global Economic Competitors Beating America

A nation’s earnest pursuit of Complete Passenger Transportation Systems right-sizes each transportation mode, particularly High-Speed Rail (HSR), Regional Rail, Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail and Metro Light Rail systems. Our Global Economic Competitors read the memo long time ago.

By 2035-37, China, Japan, and South Korea will have Complete Passenger Transportation Systems.

By 2042-45, most of Europe and Turkey will have mostly Complete Passenger Transportation Systems.

It’s surprising that India, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, Vietnam, Indonesia, Serbia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are on pace for mostly Complete Passenger Transportation Systems by 2050.

Since America failed to prioritize HSR, Modernized Regional Rail, Modernized Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail & Metro Light Rail projects when it was far cheaper and had fewer Rights-Of-Way obstacles, it’s nearly impossible to complete our Passenger Transportation System before 2060.

Rather than give up in failure, we must prioritize those projects in population-dense corridors in 1.5+ million population metro areas for completion by 2050.

Some critics blame the “Easy Factors” for America’s failure at HSR & Regional Rail. They say America has geographic, demographic, political, regulatory, and NIMBY complexities that inflate costs and delay HSR & Regional Rail Modernization projects. Yet they ignore or underemphasize Hard Factors that waste trillions of taxpayer dollars, while starving Intercity Passenger Rail & Rapid Transit projects since 1965.

In America, the Hard Factors are: Wars of Choice (Vietnam, Iraq, Iran), Over-investment in Defense Weaponry, and Excessive Highway Widening.

Excluding the first year of Afghanistan War resulting from 9-11, but counting from Vietnam War in 1965 to present, American politicians chose to spend $21-24 trillion in Wars of Choice and Defense Weaponry. This next statement should make every taxpayer’s blood boil.

As Scientific American explained in 2020, “The Pentagon has a track record of profligate spending. If it were a private corporation, gross mismanagement would have forced the Pentagon into bankruptcy years ago. Dysfunctional internal controls, abetted by years of lax congressional oversight, have enabled it to waste about $100 billion annually on a parade of overpriced, botched, and bungled projects.”

Excessive Highway Widening has also harmed Rapid Transit ridership and project funding. Part 5 takes a closer look at the wastefulness and deleterious effects of Excessive Highway Widening.

There’s no federal total of how much we’ve wasted widening freeways beyond 10 lanes, but notable examples follow:

• I-10, Houston (Katy Freeway) — 26 lanes at its widest point, cost roughly $2.8 billion (2003-2011 project)
• I-5/I-805, San Diego – 21 lanes at its widest
• I-75/I-85, Atlanta Downtown Connector — 16 lanes at its widest
• Los Angeles Metro Area has 3 freeways exceeding 10 lanes. A single carpool-lane addition cost over $1.6 billion by 2014.
• Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco Bay, Seattle, Phoenix, Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia and Nashville also have freeways over 10 lanes

From those examples, we can estimate that America has spent an inflation-adjusted $50-60 billion on Excessive Highway Widening since 2000. They’ve proven that 10+ lane freeways do NOT relieve congestion. Instead, they destroy more urban communities, while increasing demand for soul-sucking parking lots.

By comparison, the UK and India have only 1 Highway exceeding 10 lanes. Mainland Europe, China, Japan and South Korea have none.

America’s failure due to these Hard Factors failure has a blame pie that spreads across generations and political parties. Congress and Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and Trump stymied HSR, Regional Rail & Rapid Transit funding. Congress and Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Clinton, Obama, and Biden underinvested.

President Kennedy never got to fulfill his Rapid Transit vision after November 1963.

America Must Increase Infrastructure Priority

According to data organized by Visual Capitalist, America has the world’s largest economy in 2026 at $32 trillion GDP. That’s more than China, India & Japan combined. It’s also larger GDP than Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and Sweden combined.

Though Big Infrastructure costs multi-billions of dollars, a larger tax & special fee revenue from our annual GDP can fund up to $75 billion/year each for HSR, Regional Rail, Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail & Metro Light Rail projects, if our federal, state & county priorities align.

Combining Europe’s best practices for Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit with $75 billion/year for the next 20 years, America can afford a Complete Passenger Transportation System that includes this American & Canadian 2050 HSR Map by transportation scholar Alon Levy.

The HSR lines are based on population gravity, per capita income, air traffic and other nerdy factors by corridor. Alon also confirmed to me that an update to his map should include a St. Louis-Kansas City HSR line.

Plan for Interstate HSR by Transportation guru Alon Levy

Alon Levy’s Plan for American HSR Map only lacks a St. Louis-Kansas City HSR line

By 2060, a North America HSR Map would fill in more gaps connecting the Top 70 metro areas of USA, Canada and Mexico.

To fuel electric-powered mass transportation and halt Global Warming, every advanced nation and many emerging nations need a mix of Next-gen Nuclear Energy and Sustainable Energy by 2050.

How American Transportation Infrastructure Is Funded

From evidence presented in this multi-part series, a majority of polled Americans want High-Speed Rail, Modernized Regional Rail, Modernized Commuter Rail, Metro Rail and Tram systems like they’ve seen in Europe or Asia. Unfortunately, the average American snarls at the cost to fund them.

When more voters understand the Benefits outweighing Costs of this great infrastructure, they will pressure federal and state politicians to remove unnecessary regulatory delays that help trigger Construction Cost Index (CCI) inflation.

Federal funding is typically larger than state funding. A “Cliff Notes” explanation of U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and each state’s Department of Transportation (state DOT) follows to better digest why America’s “spaghetti-like” project funding takes so long.

The House and Senate negotiate federal funding in congressional bills typically ranging from 1-6 years. Within a congressional funding bill, Transportation can be an independent or included in a larger Infrastructure Bill with Energy and Waterworks.

Though Presidents often make funding proposals to Congress to signal priorities and dollar range that meets their approval, the initial decision still rests with Congress.

Congress negotiates the bill for weeks or months, then sends their bill to Presidents who veto, request minor modifications, or sign-off to execute the bill into law and federal budget. A veto-proof bill requires a two-thirds supermajority in both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Operating within the federal budget and the President’s policy, the Secretary of Transportation chooses how much and when to disburse USDOT grants & loans to states. Those funding amounts are disbursed or delayed by the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), as directed by the President.

Though USDOT has funding categories and allocation rules, most federal grants require a state-county match percentage. For every dollar they match, state & county DOTs prefer to receive 1.5 to 9 USDOT grant dollars.

Hub Airport, Major Highway, Intercity Passenger Rail, and Rapid Transit projects require Rights-Of-Way (ROW) property acquisition, materials and labor years that consume billions of federal, state and county dollars and resources.

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data, America has 30 Large Hub and 40 Medium Hub Airports handling 85% of flyers. Since American politicians constantly use Hub Airports and Air Traffic Control, Federal Aviation has been an uncontentious funding priority since World War II.

Major Highways are defined as Interstate Highways, U.S., State & County highways that have over/underpasses to function similar to freeways, plus State & County Tollways. America places higher priority on Interstate Highways and U.S. Highways with more funding than for Aviation, Rapid Transit and Intercity Passenger & Freight Rail combined.

Initially, Interstate Highway projects began with 90% federal/10% state funding formula. Federal funding sources came from the Federal Gas Tax and General Taxes.

Today, Interstate Highway funding formulas are typically 60-75% federal/40-25% state-county. State & county funding sources for Interstate Highways include any combination of state & county DOT budgets, bond measures, special fees, and ROW property acquisitions. Recently, High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes in some freeways, managed by private companies, add a percentage of toll revenue to state or county DOT revenues.

Tollway construction is typically funded by state bonds, state & county DOT funds, and state, county & city ROW property acquisitions. State or county DOTs collect tolls to repay construction bonds and maintain roadway.

Hub Airport, HSR, Modernized Regional Rail, Modernized Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail and Metro Light Rail projects typically begin with a 60-55% federal/40-45% state-county funding formula.

Though states & counties own some railway, Amtrak Regional & Long-Distance trains primarily use freight company railway and receive USDOT subsidies to operate at breakeven. Freight rail companies typically grant inactive ROW or adjacent ROW to Amtrak, state or county DOTs when passenger rail projects add Main Track or over/underpasses to remove bottlenecks and slow-downs.

When cities have major train stations that host Intercity Passenger Rail, Rapid Transit, and Intercity Buses, they attract private Transportation-Oriented Development (TOD) in-station or surrounding districts. Cities often apply special taxes in TOD districts whose economic value is enhanced by new station infrastructure. Those city taxes contribute to station TOD projects.

Amtrak Northeast Corridor has many Station TOD proof points. When TOD, City Resources and freight rail companies join in before project completion, an ideal funding formula can evolve to 50% federal, 35% state-county, 11% Private TOD + City Resources, and 4% freight rail company.

Ideal High-Speed Rail Project Funding Sources; (c) Thomas Dorsey

If America re-prioritizes, it can achieve Ideal High-Speed Rail Project Funding Ratios; (c) Thomas Dorsey

Republicans Ignored HSR & Regional Rail, Democrats Shortchanged Them

Third, since World War II ended in September 1945, the Military-Intelligence-Industrial-Complex has conditioned Americans to arm against every advanced or emerging nation that does not align with Capitalism principles. Aligning with Democratic principles is not a requirement.

After World War II, the Oil & Gas industry used any means necessary to keep America addicted to oil and natural gas, and to protect its Oil Depletion Allowance, an ongoing tax break reducing their taxes by billions annually.

Though Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy should have proposed funding railroad overpasses to sustain 100 mph Regional Rail passenger service, they had no compelling reason to fund more expensive electric-powered 130 mph HSR service until Japan introduced it during the 1964 World’s Fair. It quickly became a success to be emulated in Europe.

In 1965, Washington-NYC corridor produced America’s largest GDP percentage, but President Johnson and Congress dropped that ball when they only funded new passenger trains in the corridor without upgrading its curves, ancient bridge, tunnel, track, signaling & electric infrastructure for HSR.

President Jimmy Carter proposed major upgrades to Amtrak Washington-NYC corridor as a HSR proof-of-concept similar to Japan’s 130 mph Tokyo-Osaka HSR corridor. Congress only funded over/underpasses to eliminate the last level railroad crossings in the corridor for safety.

President Reagan tried to eliminate Amtrak and Rapid Transit funding. Only a compromise with Congressional Democrats saved their minuscule USDOT funding.

President Bush I did nothing to improve Amtrak Washington-NYC corridor, but he did shift slightly more USDOT funds from Highways to Rapid Transit.

Presidential-candidate Bill Clinton promised to upgrade the 457-mile Amtrak Northeast Corridor (Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia-Newark-NYC-New Haven-Providence-Boston) for HSR and better Regional Rail and Commuter Rail. Due to many ancient tunnels, bridges and curves, the corridor needed $32-33 billion in 1993 dollars.

President Clinton’s USDOT only granted $4 billion to Amtrak Northeast Corridor. State, county, city, private rail companies and private TOD sources added about $2 billion.

Since the corridor did not receive a $20 billion USDOT grant to trigger a $13 billion match from state, county, city & private sources, Acela HSR began in December 2000 on mostly ancient corridor infrastructure. Also note that Construction Cost Index (CCI) Inflation rises significantly faster than Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation.

In Europe and Japan, HSR was considered 155-186 mph over a majority of route miles and at least 24-48 daily roundtrips between major cities. Acela critics had a field day because our HSR only reached 150 mph on 36 miles, less than 20 roundtrips per day with lousy schedule reliability that made the public question Northeast Corridor HSR Benefits/Costs.

Despite infrastructure limitations, in 2006, Northeast Corridor’s Amtrak HSR reached profitability. Amtrak Regional Rail and Commuter Rail lines increased ridership. Those proof-points should have convinced federal leaders to boost corridor funding and attract matching state-county-city-TOD-freight rail funds. Instead of limiting the project’s CCI Inflation, President Bush II would not invest.

America’s largest infrastructure project in its richest state exemplifies another federal funding failure.

In November 2008, California checked all the boxes for population (38 million), massive GDP (8th largest globally), nation’s largest tax base & tax donor state, Highway & Hub Airport congestion, growing Amtrak Regional & Rapid Transit ridership. Those factors led voters to pass a nearly $10 billion California HSR Bond Measure that also improves Commuter Rail and Amtrak California regional services.

By 2009, state, county & city politicians could anticipate the Feds covering 60-65% of Major Highway and Airport projects. Since the $9.95 billion California HSR passed, its state & county politicians hoped for $15 billion in federal grants to initiate a 60% federal/40% state-county funding formula for the HSR project.

Despite a Democrat-majority Congress that authorized $831 billion of American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to speed economic recovery and California’s nearly $10 billion HSR Bond, President Obama granted only $3.5 billion to the nascent California HSR Authority. Nothing significant was granted to upgrade Amtrak Northeast Corridor HSR or Amtrak Chicago-Midwest HSR.

Pause for a minute. The UK and France had just spent $30.5 billion (in 2026 dollars) building HSR between London and Paris. Surely America’s three largest regions for Population, GDP, and Passenger Rides would be worth $45 billion of ARRA funds. Right?

By summer 2010, unemployment was lower, but high enough to anger voters. When voters are angry in mid-term elections, as in the November 2010 Election, political majority in the House of Representatives typically flips and political majority in the Senate weakens.

Even with a 2011 Republican-majority House of Representatives outcome likely, Obama naively believed they would co-fund his $53 billion/6-year HSR proposal for more GDP growth and job-creation. Completion of project milestones would have led to a larger follow-up 5- or 6-year HSR funding bill.

Regardless of party, every president, congressperson and governor who authorized funding could share in milestone photo ops, like they do for Highways, Hub Airports and some Rapid Transit projects.

Over 2010-11, California HSR Authority was staffing up, engaging public input, and navigating anticipated lawsuits, while hoping for a larger federal funding contribution.

In politics that defied pursuit of GDP growth and job creation over 2011-17, the Republican-majority Congress would not compromise with Obama to pass an HSR & Regional Rail funding bill. That forced California HSR Authority to soldier ahead with only $3.5 billion of USDOT funding, when close to $15 billion was anticipated based on a nearly $10 billion HSR Bond batch.

In 2014, the first large batch of California HSR Bond money was allocated to California HSR Authority. In the absence of more federal funding, the state also allocated its first batch of Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Cap & Trade) funding to California HSR Authority.

In January 2015, California HSR construction broke ground. The National Association of Rail Passengers collated rail projects submitted by state DOTs and Amtrak to identify a pipeline of HSR, Regional Rail & Commuter Rail projects totaling $209 billion. Equally worthy Metro Rail projects merited larger federal grants too.

Trump 45 Halts HSR & Most Rapid Transit Funding

In 2016, Presidential-candidate Donald Trump promised to heavily invest in the nation’s infrastructure and stated several times that America should have HSR like China. He never promised support for Rapid Transit projects.

If Trump 45 fulfilled his infrastructure promise, states, counties, freight rail companies, TOD companies + cities to benefit from federal HSR funding would likely contribute up to 50% of project costs. Be for the November 2020 Election, he could have taken photo-ops beside many near-complete California and Northeast Corridor HSR superstructures.

Though Amtrak Regional routes typically cover 50-65% of operating costs via revenues, states cover their operating losses because they are a Valued Public Service. Those routes need upgrades to Modernized Regional Rail to increase speeds, frequencies, reliability, ridership, and transfers to HSR, Modernized Commuter Rail, and Metro Rail to cover 65-80% of operating costs like their European counterparts.

Since Amtrak Long-Distance routes typically require over 50% federal subsidy to operate, Trump 45 never liked them and there are reasonable arguments to eliminate some of them.

Given President Obama funded some replacement trains and standard Amtrak budget could purchase more, Trump 45 never had to feign support for Amtrak Long-Distance routes.

As the world knows, Trump is an extreme narcissist who boasts of doing things bigger & better than other presidents. He dominated the Republican Party and could have secured bipartisan congressional approval for a $75 billion/5-year HSR funding bill in 2017.

Governors backing California, Northeast Corridor and Chicago-Midwest HSR projects invited Trump 45 to invest. States, counties, cities, freight rail companies and TOD companies that benefit would likely contribute $65-70 billion/5 years. Trump 45 could have justifiably boasted that he was “America’s High-Speed Rail Champion.”

Unfortunately, he never supported or visited those projects.

Also that year, private-led Brightline West announced their HSR project in Las Vegas-Victor Valley corridor. With large enough federal grants, Brightline West HSR could extend from Victor Valley to Palmdale and Victor Valley to Rancho Cucamonga. In the short term, Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown LA already had commuter rail lines to Palmdale and Rancho Cucamonga for ready-made transfers.

Via his close relationship with the Wynn Resorts owner, Trump could’ve convinced Brightline West to build Las Vegas HSR Station and TOD on Wynn’s vacant property, a prime location on the Strip, yet adjacent railway and Trump Hotel Las Vegas. He could have allocated a $7 billion USDOT grant for a straighter Brightline West route yielding higher average speed. Higher ridership forecasts would have uncorked demand for a second Trump Hotel or residential tower on his parking lot next to the vacant Wynn property.

Yet Trump 45 reneged on his promise. He cut all Amtrak and Rapid Transit funding by half. He never approved a USDOT grant to have Brightline West build its Las Vegas HSR station on Wynn’s vacant property. To save costs, Brightline West had to chose less expensive land 2 miles south of The Strip, which adds Trip Time and forces expensive Taxi/Uber rides to the Strip and Downtown.

Trump 45 withheld the remaining $929 million Obama grant to California HSR project to spite former President Obama and incoming California Governor Newsom.

That’s a shame because polls still indicated that a majority of American voters wanted major HSR investment. Millions supporting both major parties have rode mediocre Northeast Corridor HSR and world-class HSR in Europe or Asia. They know what we were missing.

In 1956, a $25 billion ($295 billion in 2025 value) federal investment jump-started the Interstate Highway System we utilize today. By 2020, U.S. politicians had spent about $2 trillion on Interstate & National Highways and $800 billion on Federal Aviation (Airports, Air Traffic Control, Security).

The Interstate HSR System needed a scale federal investment that fits between our Interstate HSR System and Federal Aviation. Responding to public demand in May 2020, a Congressional Democrat introduced a $205 billion/5-year HSR bill to accelerate construction of an Interstate HSR System appended to Modernized Regional Rail lines. That $41 billion/year should escalate to $75 billion/year in the second 5-year HSR bill.

Trump 45 showed no interest, despite a need to create more infrastructure jobs before the Pandemic Recession.

Since Trump 45 did not push Congress to fund Northeast Corridor, Chicago-Midwest and Brightline West projects, Americans can reasonably conclude that his claim of HSR Support was a lie. A Republican-majority Congress echoed his sentiment.

We should not be surprised. As Brennan Center analysts explain, Republican Presidents and Congresspersons reveal the evidence of dark money influence by Big Oil & Gas.

Biden Shortchanges HSR & Regional Rail Modernization

In Amtrak Joe’s 2020 presidential campaign, he promised major funding for Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit projects. Many HSR advocates dreamed or at least hoped that a Democrat-majority House, Senate and President would commit $205 billion/5 years for HSR & Modernized Regional Rail projects listed on Part 6 of this series.

Given HSR & Modernized Regional Rail’s symbiotic relationship to Modernized Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail and Metro Light Rail increasing each other’s ridership, there was similar need for about $200 billion federal investment for Rapid Transit projects like those on Part 5 of this series.

The November 2020 election produced President Biden, Democrat VP Harris as the tie-breaker over a 50-50 Senate, and Democrat-majority House of Representatives. To recover from the pandemic recession, voters wanted more Infrastructure jobs faster … much faster.

Decades of political football underfunding Federal Railroads Administration (FRA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) budgets tempered my optimism. Even if Democrats won the Presidency, Senate and House, too many of them don’t prioritize Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit like they prioritize Major Highways and Aviation.

My “hoped-for” funding authorization was $125 billion/5 years to FRA and $125 billion/5 years to FTA for sufficient lead-funding to 8 HSR projects, 10 Regional Rail Modernizations, plus Commuter Rail Modernizations and Metro Rail expansions in 25 metro areas.

In February 2021, Biden’s $2.5 trillion/5-year Infrastructure proposal could have included my “hoped-for” FRA and FTA funding. Things went sideways, however, when two fiscally conservative Democratic Senators from West Virginia and Arizona objected to Biden’s Infrastructure Proposal amount because they wanted some Republican Senators to approve a Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill far below $2.5 trillion.

To address those Senate concerns, “Amtrak Joe” Biden reduced to a $2 trillion/5-year Infrastructure proposal in March 2021 that included $80 billion for FRA and $110 billion to FTA projects. Before closely examining his FTA and FRA funding proposals, note that in June 2021, Amtrak Joe released Obama’s $929 million grant to California HSR Authority that was stalled by Trump 45.

To fulfill difference-making projects of Amtrak Joe’s Intercity Passenger Rail & Rapid Transit campaign proposals, I argue that FRA and FTA each needed at least $110 billion/5 years. Given his VP experience watching Obama underinvest in HSR, Regional Rail and Rapid Transit, Biden should have prioritized:

• Northeast & California HSR projects because they have the largest state-county-city funding match and highest ridership potential
• Amtrak Chicago-Kalamazoo-Detroit, Milwaukee-Chicago-St. Louis, and Washington-Richmond-Raleigh Regional routes also merit big HSR upgrades
• A substantial FRA grant would also improve Brightline West HSR project and leverage $9.5 billion in private funds

By October 2021, California HSR project had only received $3.5 billion in federal funding from the Obama Administration. In contrast, California’s HSR Bond, another state transportation bond, and the Cap & Trade program (renamed “Cap & Invest”) were on pace to fund $23 billion through 2030.

Considering the state’s large funding commitment and that California HSR project benefits Amtrak California Regional Rail and Commuter Rail lines, California merited $35 billion/9 years of USDOT funding through 2030. Over Amtrak Joe’s proposed 2022-2026 BIL funding period, that sum roughly divides into $20 billion/5 years from USDOT.

Combining $23 billion of state funds with $23.5 billion of USDOT funds would attract private investors (train operators, TOD) to complete California HSR ‘s San Francisco-San Jose-Gilroy-Fresno-Bakersfield-Palmdale corridor segment a decade sooner. The same funding pool would upgrade Burbank-LA-Anaheim corridor Los Angeles Metro Area too.

There were many national project scenarios based on $110 billion FRA and $110 billion FTA funding. I prefer this one consisting of six HSR + Regional Rail connectivity projects, while leaving a $17 billion BIL FRA funding remainder:

$30 billion to Northeast Corridor HSR + Regional Rail connectivity
$25 billion to California HSR + Regional Rail connectivity
$10 billion to Chicago-Gary/Hammond-Kalamazoo-Detroit HSR + Chicago Union Station upgrade
$10 billion to Milwaukee-Chicago-St. Louis HSR
$10 billion to Washington-Richmond-Raleigh HSR
$ 5 billion to Las Vegas-Rancho Cucamonga HSR (Brightline West)

Private-owned Freight Rail and state-DOT Commuter Rail routes shared with Amtrak Regional and Amtrak Long-Distance trains are eligible for the $16 billion FTA funding remainder and the $17 billion BIL FRA funding remainder.

That $33 billion in federal funds could attract $20 billion from other states and $2 billion from private freight rail companies for $55 billion total in a 58% federal/38% state-county/4% private funding formula. That $55 billion could have substantially upgraded 11 other shared Freight-Commuter-Amtrak Regional Rail routes.

With similar $110 billion FTA funding, 30 metro areas could accelerate their Metro Heavy Rail, Metro Light Rail, & BRT projects.

Nothing close to that happened because the two reticent Democratic Senators pummeled Biden’s $2 trillion/5-year Infrastructure proposal.

In October 2021, Biden tried to save the skeleton of his infrastructure proposal when he dropped to $1.75 trillion. Even that amount could have enabled $110 billion for FRA and $110 billion for FTA projects.

After 10 months of stagnant negotiations, 5 Democrat Senators (including the 2 reticent Democrats) and 5 Republican Senators nudged towards the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in November 2021. California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan were NOT among the 10 senators.

Nine BIL Senators had little or no constituent demand for HSR, Regional Rail, Metro Heavy Rail, Metro Light Rail or BRT projects.

They did however, ensure that a difference-making $110 billion went to Federal Highway (FHWA) projects and that $25 billion to Federal Aviation (FAA) was never reduced. They did want better Amtrak Long-Distance Rail and more Commuter Rail lines.

Under public pressure to deliver a large investment bill, Biden signed the $1.2 trillion/5-year BIL in late November 2021.

When you consider the tremendous support for better Transit in 2020 and ongoing demand for HSR & Modernized Regional Rail, its unclear why Amtrak Joe didn’t demand at least $100 billion FRA and $100 billion FTA funding in the BIL, rather than settle for $66 billion FRA and $39 billion FTA funding. Amtrak Joe only needed $95 billion more in the BIL.

The Arizona and West Virginia Democrat senators made big campaign promises about infrastructure funding to their voters. West Virginia was slated to receive $6 billion and Arizona was promised $4.7 billion from the BIL. If Amtrak Joe flexed political muscle to withhold those funds, it’s hard to imagine two reticent Democratic Senators failing to vote for a $1.3 trillion BIL.

Both senators could still claim that amount is fiscally responsible. The Arizona senator could have secured more funding to expand Phoenix Light Rail System per her campaign promise. The West Virginia senator brought home the bacon for highway, waterworks and abandoned mine land reclamation projects.

To America’s loss, President Biden settled for a $1.2 trillion BIL by not flexing political muscle within his own party.

Constrained to lower BIL FRA funding, Biden prioritized $30 billion/5 years to Northeast Region. That amount is attracting $15 billion from Northeast states & counties for related HSR & Regional Rail-connectivity projects. The lower BIL FRA funding also granted $3 billion to Brightline West (Las Vegas-Rancho Cucamonga) HSR to leverage $9.5 billion of private investment.

Like Obama’s USDOT, Biden’s USDOT spread most remaining FRA funds to every congressional district that had mediocre 30-79 mph Amtrak Regional & Long-Distance service. That thinly spread funding eviscerated funding for California, Chicago-Midwest and Southeast HSR projects.

Only $3.4 billion of Biden BIL FRA funds went to California HSR. The no-brainer Commuter Rail tunnel into downtown San Francisco and later shared with HSR, needed $5.5 billion in federal funds. Biden’s USDOT granted only $3.5 billion in BIL FTA funds, leaving that project in limbo.

Washington-Richmond-Raleigh HSR project received $2.1 billion/5 years — a sum only large enough for piecemeal Regional Rail upgrades within Washington-Richmond segment.

Given Illinois, Michigan and Indiana would contribute HSR matching funds, Buttigieg’s grants of $94 million to Chicago Hub Improvement Program, $157 million to Amtrak Chicago-St. Louis route, and $126 million to Amtrak Chicago-Kalamazoo-Detroit route were shamefully low. The latter two routes, under-funded for Regional Rail modernization, should have received an order of magnitude larger funding to become HSR routes.

Outside the Northwest Corridor, Biden’s “Amtrak Joe” moniker is practically meaningless. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg and Vice-President Harris (from California) should also be criticized for not convincing Biden to allocate at least $20 billion to California HSR & Regional Rail-connectivity projects.

HSR advocates like me welcome Amtrak’s record 34.5 million ridership in FY 2025 but ignore its PR hype. I will celebrate when America passes 250 million annual Intercity Passenger Rail ridership, like 12-million population Belgium.

Bigotry, Lies & Science-Denialism Hurting Transportation & Energy Policies

Trump 47 Project 25 policies are severely disturbing because they are counter to the 21st century best interests of America. Feel free to consider this section biased against Trump. In the same breath, I ask that you consider receipts supporting my position.

Since my Black Travel publishing career began in 1994, I have visited thousands of sites and published content about people and landmarks made important by their relationship to American racism and its oppressive results. It troubles me to state that our current president is un-fit for office, partly because his bigotry & lies hurt our Transportation And Energy infrastructure.

Trump 47 Administration uses Project 25, drafted by the Heritage Foundation, as a playbook for bigotry and hyper-partisanship. Trump 47 heavily recruited from the Heritage Foundation, who authored Project 2025, and to lesser extent from Cato Institute and Reason Foundation.

Their deliberate use of anti-DEI enforcement to reshape federal civil-rights policy, disproportionate layoff of Black federal workers without cause, and firing celebrated Black military officers are ample grounds to characterize him as racist. Even Black Republican Senator Scott called out Trump 47’s racist attacks on Barack and Michelle Obama.

That characterization is not merely political rhetoric. It fosters anger and mistrust in government. In a February 2026 Economist/YouGov poll, 72% of Black respondents described Trump as racist, compared with just 15% of Black voters who supported him in the 2024 election. His net approval rating by Black voters has dropped 25 points since May 2026, yet a delusional Trump thinks Blacks are flocking to the GOP.

By firing competent federal workers without cause, his policies are weakening America’s Infrastructure compared to the advanced and emerging nations of Europe and Asia. Ina country headed for Minority-Majority Status, the should be embracing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion practices that foster a culture where all qualified individuals have equitable access to opportunities.

That’s particularly important because diverse populations are younger and will pay the lion’s share of taxes to keep an aging society functioning well.

For half a century, the Oil & Gas industry has copiously funded the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, and Reason Foundation to “Flood the Zone” with lies and half-truths about Amtrak, HSR, Regional Rail, Commuter Rail, Metro Rail, Wind and Solar Energy projects.

I’ve read Project 2025 Transportation and Energy policy. Its Transportation and Energy policies are a tangled mess of lies, half-truths, hypocritical contradictions, and science-denialism, despite the vast majority of environmental scientists and transportation planners calling for a strong pivot to Sustainable Transportation & Energy.

True to the interests of Big Oil & Gas and Heritage Foundation, his administration is canceling most HSR, Regional Rail, Rapid Transit and Smart Electric Grid funding — halting America’s Transportation & Energy progress towards a 2050 Net Zero Goal.

Though the private sector has an important role to play, Project 2025 Transportation policy (pages 619-639) misleads uninformed news media to think the private sector should lead ALL Intercity Passenger Rail projects. To lead HSR & Regional Rail projects, private companies would have to cover at least 50% of project costs.

The core problem with that approach is very few private companies choose HSR & Regional Rail projects whose timeframes are longer that 5-7 years to start yielding ROI. Brightline Florida is a rare example who owned their freight rail route and decided to prioritize for mostly 79-110 mph, non-electric passenger service.

Private companies rarely lead harder projects that have 10-16 year ROI timeframes that yield 2-3X higher train speeds, frequencies, reliability and safety that multiplies ridership forecasts.

On 20 January 2025, Trump 47 resumed his hyper-partisan vengeance with Governor Newsom. Among many things, he withdrew Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for California HSR project approved by Obama and re-approved by Biden.

Consistent with his pattern of hiring ill-suited cabinet members with blind loyalty to his Project 25 agenda, Trump 47 tabbed Sean Duffy as Secretary of Transportation. Duffy was a Fox Business TV personality with no military command, no corporate or nonprofit executive track record, nothing sector-specific to transportation or logistics. Nothing on his resume suggested competence for the job.

His Great American Road Trip reality TV show attracted sponsors that included Boeing, Shell, Toyota, and United Airlines — companies that intersect with USDOT’s regulatory authority. Though I’d call that a lightweight conflict of interest, it is very concerning that Duffy hired a Heritage Foundation ideologue as his Deputy Secretary along with other Heritage and Cato Institute alumni.

On 29 January 2025, the tragic airplane-helicopter crash occurred approaching Reagan National Airport. Trump 47 blamed FAA’s DEI hiring policies without evidence, suggesting the air traffic controller was an incompetent DEI employee. Duffy stood beside him and pledged to implement Trump’s reforms. On 2 February, Duffy went further in a televised interview, defending Trump 47’s policy to eliminate DEI.

Three weeks after being sworn in, Secretary Duffy allowed Elon Musk-DOGE to fire nearly 400 FAA probationary personnel, including radar, landing and navigational maintenance workers. Awakened to the likelihood for more air disasters, Duffy had to re-hire most of those employees asap.

America’s air traffic is continuing to grow. Though Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, Orlando, Charlotte and Houston Hub airports can add runway without much public pushback, no other U.S. Hub Airports have that luxury.

Duffy has no strategy to increase mass transportation capacity without increasing the risk of airplane accidents and more highway congestion. Is he going to fight against organized NIMBYs who don’t want planes flying new paths over their homes? Is he going to continue funding highway widening, when even 14-26-lane highways re-congest only 2-3 years later?

One solution is obvious and Duffy knows it. In the Northeast Corridor and worldwide, HSR reduces congestion in flight corridors under 550 miles.

When new Acela trains arrived on smoother Northeast Corridor tracks, Duffy never credited Obama and Biden for them enabling his national PR photo-op.

Yet in April 2025, Duffy de-committed a $64 million grant from Amtrak to support Dallas-Houston HSR planning, just as the project was gaining momentum.

It’s not unusual for large organizations to reduce 1-3% of workforce for greater efficiency. Nor would it be odd to cancel 5-6 low-ridership Long-Distance routes to transfer more resources to Amtrak Regional routes that have high ridership potential.

But Duffy’s elimination of 10% of Amtrak management positions in May 2025 without an Amtrak ridership & revenue boosting strategy raises more unsettling questions of competence:

• Why such deep management cuts when Amtrak announced record high ridership in FY 2025 and capital projects complete over 2026-28 that will further boost ridership?
• Why doesn’t he help more public-led HSR projects complete, so they can reach operating profit like Amtrak Northeast Corridor HSR?
• Why doesn’t he help 6-7 more Amtrak Regional Rail upgrades for ridership boosts that can cover 20-25% more operating costs?

Trump’s Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, is the former CEO of oil & gas fracking company. Though he rarely makes the news, Wright supports Trump 47’s Project 25 ideology by denying oil & gas contributions to Global Warning.

In my opinion, Americans should not trust Trump 47’s Energy Secretary who ignores multiple independent studies finding that 97-99% of active climate scientists agree that global warming is primarily caused by human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels.

In fairness to Secretary Wright, one could reasonably argue that Wright would be a good Energy Secretary in the Reagan-Bush I Era. Today, however, his ideology is anathema to wind & solar energy growth and fossil fuel regulations to slow Global Warming. Nor has he allocated major funding towards a Smart Electric Grid.

Narcissism, Hyper-Partisanship & Incompetence Further Crippling Our Transportation

As many credible news outlets have reported, Trump 47’s delays of California and Northeast Corridor passenger rail investments are motivated by hyper-partisan and personal animus towards political opponents, rather than transportation policy.

At the bidding of his boss, Secretary Duffy halted funding to the $16 billion Gateway project and $2 billion Second Avenue Subway project in NYC to strip DEI criteria from hiring and contracts. Trump 47 added a requirement to rename Dulles Airport and NY Penn Station in his honor before releasing the Gateway Project funds. The halt was removed weeks later, but a plaque in his name was added to NY Penn Station to placate his narcissism.

To prevent falling further behind Europe, Japan and China’s transportation productivity advantage, why didn’t Duffy convince Trump 47 to substantially invest in HSR & Modernized Regional Rail? Trump could have justifiably plastered his name on those projects.

At Trump 47’s selfish behest, Secretary Duffy canceled $3.9 billion in California HSR-related grants as he states, “Until I figure out what’s going on.” He repeats a misleading soundbite, “No track has been laid” and a completely false soundbite, “California HSR project is waste, fraud & abuse of taxpayer funds.”

Duffy never mentions 10 years of HSR funding delay by Congressional Republicans (2011-2016) and Trump 45 (2017-2020) when non-residential building inflation averaged 3.7% per annum. If Republicans passed Obama’s $53 billion HSR proposal in 2010, in 2026 dollar value, it would have built $74 billion worth of infrastructure by now. Both parties could claim credit over 1500 miles of HSR infrastructure.

Duffy ignores that California HSR bond helped modernize 51 miles of Northern Bookend used by Commuter Rail today and HSR in the future. The Southern Bookend also received HSR bond funding to help build LA Metro Rail tunnel to Los Angeles Union Station and a major LA railroad overpass that benefits Amtrak, commuter rail, freight rail and truckers.

Duffy ignores the lengthy public input needed before Environmental Clearance, acquiring ROW property, relocating underground utilities, and building concrete superstructures before the relatively easy installation of track, electrical & signaling systems. Nor does he mention that California HSR Central Valley segment is on pace to commence track, electrical & train control installment in 4Q 2026.

Duffy ignores that a a higher majority of the public supports California HSR project underway than voted for the 2008 California HSR Bond Measure.

Experienced highway DOTs commonly underestimate project costs. Yet, Secretary Duffy does not claim “Waste, fraud & abuse of taxpayer funds” for Interstate Highways or Hub Airports that experience similar project inflation.

A nascent organization with barely 10 people on staff over 1996-2008, California HSR Authority did not have sufficient resources and experience to properly estimate project cost and manage media messaging. California HSR Authority needed to coordinate with 80 separate entities for approval, permitting or consultation (5 federal agencies, 8 state departments, 6 cities, 5 counties, 31 utility owners, 22 quasi-governmental agencies, and 3 freight railroads) before construction.

We should not be surprised that a “rookie” California HSR Authority underestimated project cost by a lot as it slowly staffed up for the nation’s largest mega-project. But there is NO proven case of HSR fraud. That is a major reason why California HSR keeps winning nuisance lawsuits.

Since 2009, California State Legislature has ordered many independent audits of California HSR project. In 2022, Ethan Elkind and his UC Berkeley colleagues published a detailed analysis of California HSR’s project cost and timeline issues. The state’s independent auditor released a report the day after Secretary Duffy’s press conference. Reports highlight these causes for project delay and cost inflation:

• Federal funding stoppage & uncertainty contributes to a lack of confidence that delays private investment
• Until 2025, no persistent annual state budget went to California HSR project
• At the behest of USDOT grant guidelines, California started construction before design was complete, leading to costly design changes
• Nascent California HSR Authority had to over-rely on consultants managing contracts and demanding costly change orders
• A higher than anticipated volume of nuisance lawsuits delayed ROW property acquisition
• Delays relocating public utilities in the ROW and getting 3rd party construction permits

Unlike Brightline West HSR project, the 496-mile California HSR Phase 1 is designed to be a world-class system with long tunnels & embankments through rugged terrain, and more ROW property acquisition for long viaducts that produce 180-220 mph speeds. It is also designed to enter downtown Los Angeles and downtown San Francisco.

In contrast, most of 218-mile Brightline West HSR uses I-15 highway median and a couple of relatively short viaducts. It does not include tunnels and long embankments. Hence, $21 billion Brightline West HSR will have mostly 100-150 mph speeds, plus a sprinkle of 185 mph. Its northern terminus is 2 miles short of the Las Vegas Strip. Its southern terminus is a suburb 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Nevertheless, Americans should appreciate that private-owned Brightline West is investing $12 billion while seeking $9 billion in federal funds for a Public-Private Partnership that will help build the Southwest HSR System.

Since 2009, California HSR Authority has gained valuable experience overcoming unknowns and incorporating best practices. Today, its staff has grown past 500 people for enough in-house planners, engineers, program managers, and project managers to self-certify for Environmental Clearance and accelerating construction milestone pace.

The impressive 2025 milestones list of structures completed in this 4-minute California HSR Progress explainer. California HSR project has also generated over 15,000 jobs since construction began, with most filled by Central Valley residents. The project has a long-term projection of 945,000 job-years throughout Phase 1. Given they pay taxes, that virtuous cycle delivers a fantastic ROI for the public.

Instead of boosting Interstate HSR momentum with larger investment than Obama and Biden, Trump directed Duffy to halt funding to HSR, Modernized Regional Rail, Modernized Commuter Rail, and Metro Rail projects by sabotaging Diversity, Equity & Inclusion that helped accelerate construction milestones. Moreover, he directed Duffy to illegally withhold Biden’s $3.9 billion BIL grant to California HSR and pressured Amtrak to cut 10% of its management workforce despite FY2024 and FY2025 ridership and revenue growth.

Since Trump 47 will not release Biden’s $3.9 billion grant, California HSR Authority released this damning statement in December 2025, “This action reflects the state’s assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California.”

Trump is an extreme narcissist. A competent Secretary of Transportation would have satiated Trump’s ego to redirect $90 billion from that screwball Nuclear Moonshot to the underfunded California, Chicago-Detroit, Milwaukee-Chicago-St. Louis, and Washington-Richmond-Raleigh HSR projects and legitimately attach his name for advancing them.

Given Trump 47 shows no interest in HSR & Regional Rail, we can anticipate more project cost inflation on his watch. Worst of all, Duffy’s incompetent mismanagement prolongs high levels of oil consumption that runs counter to the world’s Net Zero Goal.

Newsom Ensures California HSR Spine Will Complete

The 2029 Congress and President have the opportunity energize all mega-regions towards a Complete Passenger Transportation System. They can simultaneously incentivize state-county-city politicians to adequately co-fund their Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit ambitions.

Despite California’s Cap & Invest funding success, HSR, Modernized Regional Rail and Modernized Commuter Rail projects need more victories to create a Complete Passenger Transportation System faster in America.

In FY 2025 alone, California is spending $39.9 billion on Transportation with only $3.5 billion from federal sources. On a per capita basis, over 90% of California, Nevada, Illinois, Virginia, Georgia and most other DOT budgets are spent on Highways and Aviation projects/services. Nearly all of Florida and Texas DOT budgets are spent on Highways and Aviation projects/services.

Interstate HSR & Modernized Regional Rail is not a fringe movement. An expanding list of Blue Chip companies (below) backs Interstate HSR & Regional Rail construction.

Logos of Blue-chip companies backing the U.S. High Speed Rail Association’s goal

America Can Afford Big Transportation Infrastructure Projects

We desperately need HSR, Modernized Regional Rail, Modernized Commuter Rail, Metro Heavy Rail, and Metro Light Rail like our Global Economic Competitors. As American population grows from 330 million in 2020 to 388 million by 2050, public demand will continue growing, if only to buck traffic congestion.

A common refrain of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans is, “We can’t let China beat us in _______________.” A key to China becoming a Global Economic Superpower is their $500 billion per year investment on Transportation infrastructure. That’s about 5.6% of its GDP.

Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom can afford to invest only 0.7% to 1.3% of GDP on Transportation infrastructure because they began Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit investments decades earlier than China.

In my opinion, America’s Highway, Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit modes each need $75 billion/year by 2030. Aviation needs $30 billion/year. Sustainable Energy, including Smart Electric Grid upgrades, needs $60 billion/year.

When the BIL expires in October 2026, America doesn’t have to shake down couches or increase middle class taxes to find funding. We can afford 1.2% of GDP ($350 billion/year) for 21st-century Transportation & Energy Infrastructure.

The next President, Congress and governors should eliminate $20 billion/year in Oil & Natural Gas industry subsidies that Heritage Foundation, Reason Foundation, and Cato Institute defend with misinformation.

Our governors, county commissioners and mayors need to stop wasting billions on Highway Widening beyond 8 or 10 lanes.

The next Secretary of Transportation should hire transportation scholars from the Eno Institute, Brookings Institute, NYU Marron Institute, and Mineta Institute to help craft a sustainable Complete Passenger Transportation System policy.

If political priorities align in 1H 2029, USDOT budget should receive a large boost to counteract decades of Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit funding neglect. We’ll need to sustain large public & private funding for a high-performing Intercity Passenger Rail and Rapid Transit system by 2050 and more comprehensive interconnected systems by 2060.

Vision Map of an Interstate High-Speed Rail System that we need by 2060; source U.S. High Speed Rail Association

Mitigate Project Cost Inflation

No one likes taxpayer dollars wasted. Fortunately, there are many best practices to mitigate cost inflation.

Transportation scholars and advocates at the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, NYU Marron Institute, PedestrianObservations, TheTransportPolitic, Eno Center for Transportation, StreetsBlog, and HSR Alliance have studied successful HSR, Regional Rail, Electric Commuter Rail, Metro Rail & Tram projects for decades, particularly in Western Europe.

The Institute For Progress has published a respected Transit Abundance Playbook to maximize the Benefits/Costs for Rapid Transit. many of which are transferrable to Intercity Passenger Rail:

• Hire more Passenger Rail expertise in transportation agencies to reduce expensive contractors
• Converge more federal & state policies to shorten Environmental Reviews by 1 year
• Standardize construction elements for economies of scale that lower costs
• Build many HSR, Regional Rail, Rapid Transit, and station projects simultaneously
• Seek private funding for Transportation-Oriented Development (TOD) to pay for station upgrades
• Once HSR lines are fully built, license private high-speed train operators to compete with Amtrak

Will Generation Y & Z Save Us?

The United Nations says we are in a death race to prevent a 2° Celsius temperature rise by 2050 that threatens our way of life. To slow Global Warming, every advanced and emerging nation must accelerate Sustainable Infrastructure investment, plant and save more trees.

Why Can't I Chill on More High-Speed Trains?

When will America get serious about Intercity Passenger Rail & Rapid Transit funding; credit gilaxia

Since America delayed Sustainable Infrastructure investment for decades, Generation Y & Z born after 1979 will experience more negative impacts from Highway & Airport congestion, smog, and Global Warming in their lifetimes. They will also be the of majority voters in November 2026.

Instead of building modern infrastructure to mitigate impending calamities, Trump 47 is guided by truth-denial, autocratic villainy and self-dealing. His Transportation & Energy policies regress to the 20th century, rather than advance with 21st century solutions. With those ominous conditions in mind, I close with two epic questions.

Given the bigotry, incompetence, pathological lies, and corruption in high places, will American democracy survive the 2026 election?

If it does survive, will Generation Y & Z solidarity pressure enough politicians to boost Sustainable Transportation & Energy funding after the 2028 Election?

~~~ HIGH-SPEED RAIL ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES ~~~