Why Is Biden Talking about High ‐​Speed Trains and Supersonic Planes When His Infrastructure Plan Doesn’t Include Either One?

Randal O'Toole“The Interstate Highway System transformed the way we traveled, lived, worked, and developed,” said President Biden in theMarch 31 speech introducing hisAmerican Jobs Plan. “Imagine what we can do, what’s within our reach, when we modernize those highways,” he continued. “You and your family could travel coast to coast without a single tank of gas onboard a high‐​speed train.”The late Senator Arlen Specter shares a  ride on an Amtrak train with then‐​Vice President Joe Biden in 2009.When I  read this, I had to wonder: is Biden’s speechwriter simply ignorant when it comes to transportation? Or did Biden depart from the speech and allow his mind to drift to a total non‐​sequitur? I wondered this because, in case you weren’t aware, high‐​speed trains will not go on even m odernized interstate highways. Although many people talk about building rail lines in the median strips of interstate highways, that’s just a fantasy: trains cannot handle the grades and high‐​speed trains cannot handle the curves found on interstate freeways. More pertinently, Biden’s infr astructure plan doesn’t even include any money for high‐​speed trains.Then, on April 7, Biden gaveanother speech that elaborated on the above sentence. “Imagine a world where you and your family can travel coast to coast without a single tank of gas on a high‐​speed train,” he repeated, “close to as fast as you can go across the country in a ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs