codyg1985’s Think Tank

Mexico is planning to build a network of bullet trains (Tren Bala) that will eventually connect Mexico City with the U.S. border at Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana.

My question is simple: how on earth does Mexico get to put money into a high speed train network, which will be the first in the Western Hemisphere if built, while the United States is still pouring billions into Amtrak, getting nothing in return?

It is given that Mexico is the ninth largest economy in the world, but the United States is the largest. The U.S. pours billions into its system of interstate highways, and while they provide economic development in most cases, interstate highways encourage sprawl and irresponsible planning, which leads to traffic problems that taxpayers have to pay for.

Instead, the U.S. government should allocate a percentage of that money towards building high-speed rail networks (true high-speed tracks, unlike those in the Northeast Corridor that share track with regular freight trains). It is given that as the distance increases it becomes faster and cheaper to travel by plane, but high-speed rail does provide an alternative to driving and/or flying for intercity travel and in densely-populated areas (i.e. the Northeast Corridor).

High-speed trains may encourage people to return to the city instead of move farther out into the suburbs and the countryside.