The Political Economy of High Speed Rail in the United States

摘要

Discussions of high-speed rail in the United States generally involve relatively straightforward matters of urban policy, civil engineering, economics and raw politics. High-speed rail is touted as an economic driver, a paragon of sustainability and an arena of competition with economic rivals in Europe and Asia. But a critical look at the discourse surrounding high-speed rail reveals the deep contradictions that have managed to stymie numerous initiatives to build high-speed rail lines while simultaneously keeping the dream alive in the imaginings of generations of advocates. This paper looks at plans for high-speed rail in the United States as a complex of ideas, connecting the nascent efforts to the larger American story.