Which Countries Do Americans Support Building High-Speed Rail in America?
According to a recent poll by the High Speed Rail America Club, most people support Japan, Germany, and France to build high-speed rail.
Currently, America lacks homegrown companies with expertise and experience in high-speed rail train and systems manufacturing. While it’s freight rail industry and technologies are far and beyond, the best in the world, companies such as General Electric and Electro-Motive Diesel have not generally been leaders in building passenger trains in the 21st Century. This has prompted companies and government projects to look elsewhere around the globe for not only manufacturing assistance in it’s trains, but business models as well.
Where these business models come from can affect how a high-speed rail system runs, and how Americans view the project in supporting it or not. Hence, the reason why we conducted a hybrid online/offline poll to better understand which countries Americans trust more in helping to build these systems. Pollsters were allowed a maximum selection of three countries among six total choices; Japan, Germany, China, France, South Korea, and Spain. These 6 countries house companies/organizations that have built systems in other countries, or have expressed interest in building such systems, particularly in America. Below are the results:
No surprise, that with 83% favorability, is the country of Japan. Being the first mover into the high-speed rail industry, and hosting companies such as Kawasaki and Hitachi that have built systems in places such as Taiwan and the United Kingdom. The safety rating of the system also seemed to be an added plus to respondents, with some stating the fact that the Japanese bullet train systems have moved over 10 billion people with no operating fatalities ever. This beyond-six-sigma attention to detail, and a history of innovation are the main factors as to why Americans trust the Japanese most in assisting to build these systems. The Japanese have pushed for years to bring their technology to the US, and has currently been successful in Texas as well as the Northeastern part of the country, and has high hopes for it’s inclusion in California’s system.
Not far behind is Germany, with 69% of respondents also favoring the Germans in building systems as well. The main company behind Germany’s high-speed rail systems has been Siemens, a company that also has been highly regarded for their passenger rail systems. Currently, Siemens is in the process of building Brightline’s higher-speed diesel Chargers, has built Amtrak’s City Sprinters for the Northeast Corridor. They are at the moment, betting heavily on California, and have even showed off a mock-up of their famous InterCity Express (ICE) train at Sacramento’s Capitol building. Germany’s appeal may not be just because of Germany’s legendary reliability in engineering (something still highly regarded and stereotyped in the United States), but also due to Germany’s track record in other countries of building high-speed rail systems. Turkey, Russia, the UK, and even China are host to Siemens’ ICE system. At one time, Siemens did run an ICE train on Amtrak’s NEC line for a limited showcasing event, and the inclusion of their California based factory gives them an advantage over other countries.
France holds the third place spot with 59% favorability, and most of the respondents’ third choice. The first country in Europe to introduce high-speed rail, and the second in the world after Japan, no doubt, the French have been pioneers and leaders into the field, even holding multiple speed records. The French also run their trains all throughout Europe, and even run multiple services such as Thalys in Belgium and the Netherlands (see our exclusive interview with Thalys train driver and HSRAC contributor, Steve Maksimovic). Without France, Europe would not the connected high-speed rail network it enjoys today. There have been multiple attempts by the French companies Alstom (formarly GEC-Alsthom, train manufacturer) and SNCF (the national rail operator) to build HSR in America, most notably the Texas Tren Gran Vitesse and the Florida Overland Express; the former was brutally attacked and destroyed by Southwest Airlines and Florida’s project was killed by former Governor/presidential candidate, Jeb Bush. These unfortunate failures have dissuaded the French from pursuing other HSR projects in the US, but they have set their sights toward the Northeast and Canada.
In distant 4th, 5th, and 6th are China, South Korea, and Spain (the first two being tied for 4th). 17% of people support the Chinese to build HSR in America, 17% also support the South Koreans, and 11% support the Spaniards (ouch). There are a number of reasons that these countries stand so low in support, especially China. The political discourse between the United State’s and the People’s Republic is both fragile and toxic, and the view of China from Americans is similar to views from the Cold War. Recently, the Chinese Railway company, the state owned company responsible for China’s massive railroad expansion, has invested billions into the XpressWest project from Las Vegas to Victorville, a move met with mixed to negative reviews from critics. While the Chinese have in fact built the world’s most massive HSR network, much of their technology was reverse engineered from German and Japanese counterparts. One of the more infamous dramas concerning China’s HSR network was the Wenzhou train crash in 2011, which injured over 200 people, and killed 40, due to the leadership of China’s rail ministry rushing projects for the sake of building (he was later tried on charges of corruption in the rail ministry and sentenced to death.) The lack of trust and political congruency between China and US, as well as the crash, presents a very difficult relationship to navigate, concerning HSR.
Spain and South Korea, are not as popular for different reasons. South Korea has only just recently begun to ready itself for exporting it’s HSR technology, and has yet to prove and market itself, although companies such as Hyundai Rotem have already exported a number of conventional passenger train technologies to many different countries, including the US. The basis of unfamiliarity, however, reflect South Korea’s lower standings. Spain on the other hand, is very familiar, especially among South Floridians involved in the study. Spain has the largest HSR network in Europe, and the largest in the world after China — and like China, is also in the memories of many for it’s HSR accident in Santiago de Compostella. A high-speed train, on conventional tracks, derailed while going twice the speed limit, due to driver’s negligence and cost the lives of 79 people, the worst high-speed rail crash in the 21st century (to be fair, it isn’t the worst HSR accident, Germany’s Eschede train accident still remains the worst), however not as recent as Spain’s accident. Spain’s state owned company, Adif, Renfe the HSR service, and Talgo the manufacturer, currently have a project in Saudi Arabia - the Haramain HSR between Medina and Mecca. It’s been met with many delays (aka “siestas”) as well as environmental hurdles such as Arabian sandstorms, proving to be anything but problematic.
The global market for high-speed rail is catching speed as many countries begin to modernize their infrastructure and realize the need for sustainable, rapid, and profitable development. Countries such as India, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa are all eyeing which other countries they should be working with in order to implement their systems. The largest country by far out of these potential markets is none other than the United States of America, the leader in passenger rail systems in another time in history, and the most competitive market with projects and new proposals springing up quickly. The crossroads of the HSR market has undoubtedly settled here, and the choices and preferences have, at least, been made clear. Japan, Germany, and France will more likely have an easier time than most to push their companies and systems here in the US, while China, South Korea, and Spain, still have some speeding up to do.
