This week, we’ve been running a series of essays concerning High-Speed Rail, an issue that’s reached an important moment for Hampton Roads to step up and seize as it has not yet before.

Part of the reason why, as Louis Guy reports, High Speed Rail has had such an abysmal history in Hampton Roads is because, in our humble opinion, the lack of awareness prohibits impassioned citizens from coming together and saying that we want it. So here’s a rundown of what exactly HSR is, why we need it, and what we need to do to get it.

How it differs from light rail

Light rail is a low-capacity, low-speed system that runs within cities and possibly between cities within a region. In Norfolk we are anticipating The Tide, a starter line that will run from Newtown Road (at the border between Virginia Beach and Norfolk), to Harbor Park, through downtown Norfolk, and on to EVMS. The Tide is exemplar of this form of rail, which typically uses electric rail cars that run on a dedicated right-of-way on regular city streets.

High speed rail, on the other hand, runs significantly faster and connects regions. Trains run on their own dedicated tracks, totally separate from regular traffic. This type of transportation is well-known and widely used in Europe and Japan, but has not taken hold in the United States, where road and air travel are preferred. That preference is the longstanding result of the US’s decision to build interstate highways and airports after World War II, while in other parts of the world railways were rebuilt.

A China Railway High-Speed (CRH) train

A light rail tram in Dublin

Different types of high speed rail

There are several categories of high speed rail, which makes this all even more confusing. Here’s a summary as presented by the organization, The Future of Hampton Roads, at a recent Town Hall Meeting at The Ted.

The Federal Railroad Administration defines several categories of intercity passenger rail service:

Express High-Speed Rail…………150 mph

Regional High-Speed Rail ……….110 mph

Emerging High-Speed Rail ………. 90 mph.

Conventional Intercity Rail……….. 79 mph

The difference between these categories is much more than the differences in speed. The higher speed categories provide increased levels of safety and on-time performance for passengers plus more passing lanes and control features to prevent conflicts between freight and passenger trains. The speed categories drive design, construction, and train scheduling.  They are proxies for quality of service.

Obama’s high speed rail plan

These distinctions are important because of one very significant reason: Earlier this year, President Barack Obama unveiled a plan for a national network of high speed passenger rail lines; a plan that many compare to Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System of the 1950s. The president’s plan identifies 10 potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding (depicted on the map below), including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England. As reported in CNN.com, “His plan would be funded in part through the recently passed $787 billion stimulus plan, which includes a total of $8 billion for improvements in rail service. Obama has also proposed a separate five-year, $5 billion investment in high-speed rail as part of the administration’s suggested fiscal year 2010 budget.”

Note on this map the short extension from Richmond to Hampton Roads. On the map below to the right, which shows a closer view of the Southeast high speed rail corridor, the extension is delineated in green.

As Louis Guy writes in his article: “Hampton Roads was not even on the map! Public hearings were held throughout North Carolina and central Virginia in 2001, but none in Hampton Roads.* In 2002, a final decision on this main line was approved by Virginia, North Carolina and the Federal Rail Administration. Almost as an afterthought, Virginia started a study for a spur to connect Hampton Roads with Richmond. That study is going to public hearings this month.”

What Hampton Roads now faces

sehsr.org

Says The Future of Hampton Roads:

“Virginia’s plan for the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor (SEHSR), one of ten corridors now competing for stimulus funds, has recently been altered to provide spurs off the main line to the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads. But spurs might not be built at the same time as the main line, and they would offer fewer trains at speeds lower than 110 mph. Is that good enough for the most populous region on the coast between New York and South Florida? For Virginia’s port and main tourist destination? For the nation’s largest military base? NC added time to our trip south by bending the main line to fit its smaller MSAs. Why shouldn’t VA do the same—for its much larger MSA?

Although the planning for the SEHSR Corridor is well advanced, no actual construction has started. There is no real impediment to having the planning process revised to allow Hampton Roads to be included as an integral part of the main line. Congress might have to make the change; NC, SC, and GA might oppose it, but maybe the other 46 states would agree VA has a compelling case. Doesn’t our region merit the same superior quality of service that is planned for metro areas of lesser population and national importance? Not having our region on the main line would injure Virginia.”

Again, as Guy writes: “Recently, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) showed strong leadership in rising above provincialism and adopted a regional solution demanding our place at the table for HSR and our share of federal funding. That is crucial to our prospects for HSR. For a vital 30-year program affecting our region’s prosperity, such as Interstate Highways and/or HSR, we must clarify and hold on to our long-term vision. With unity and stamina, we can still add 1.7 million citizens to the nation’s High Speed Rail network, including Southside Hampton Roads where there has been no passenger rail service for decades.”

What’s next

In the next few weeks the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation will hold public hearings to address the Alternatives Analysis and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)* that was released last December 18. The EIS (7 Chapters, 625 pages) can be found at: http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/projects/hamptonpassenger.aspx.

What we need to do

1 | Show up at the Town Meeting for High-Speed Rail, sponsored by the Future of Hampton Roads, tonight at Granby Theater in downtown Norfolk at 5:30 pm.

2 | Attend the public hearings on January 27 in Newport News and on January 28 at the Halfe Moone Cruise and Celebration Center next to Nauticus in downtown Norfolk at 5:30.

3 | Make your voice heard by filling out the electronic form comments to VDRPT (5 pages, 6 questions, excellent procedure): http://www.rich2hrrail.info/. Click “Comment on Draft EIS” at the bottom of page (take your time; do it well).

4 | Or by sending your written comments to: VDRPT, Public Info Office, DRPT, 600 E. Main St, Suite 2102, Richmond, VA 23219.