Emerging travel trends, high-speed rail, and the public reinvention of U.S. transportation

Abstract

By examining emerging travel trends and the resurgence of rail transport in the United States, this paper suggests that deploying high-speed rail (HSR) in the U.S. could help accelerate a transportation paradigm shift that is already underway, increase density, improve the service and sustainability of transportation, and accelerate economic activity. This shift is especially notable among young Americans who are driving less, buying fewer cars, and settling in urban areas where they can walk, bike, and use public transport. Meanwhile, baby boomers, though driving more than previous generations did at the same age, are joining this urbanizing trend and, as they grow older, seeking mobility alternatives to car dependence. Other trends, such as the transformation of society by mobile communication and digital technology, are also affecting change and forcing planners to re-think the current imbalance of the U.S. transport system. Using the success revealed by passenger rail services in the Northeast Corridor, this paper examines how high-speed rail and its station hubs could enhance urbanization and help to rebalance the three main passenger modes—road, air, and rail—so that each flourishes within its most sustainable niche. In these ways, the benefits of HSR extend beyond rail service itself to include this mode's ability to reinvent the transportation system in ways that better serve the needs of a changing society while urgently addressing livability and sustainability.