Brightline, the Florida private rail company that runs yellow trains between Miami and Orlando, filed for bankruptcy last month after failing to generate enough revenue to cover its debts. The company continues to operate its Florida service, but its ambitious plan to launch a 200‑mph line between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, California, remains in limbo.
Why the United States Lags Behind
According to Lou Thompson, a veteran rail advocate who helped form Amtrak in the early 1970s, the primary obstacle to high‑speed rail in America is a lack of sustained government resources. “Foreign governments wanted high‑speed rail and they were willing to pay for it,” Thompson told CNN. “Our government has never met those two conditions.”
Thompson argues that federal money was instead funneled into the interstate highway system and the national air traffic network—both critical for post‑World War II growth but also backed by powerful auto, oil, construction, airline, and aerospace lobbies. Andy Kunz, CEO of the advocacy group US High Speed Rail, says that lobbying from these industries effectively pushed high‑speed rail “into the background” to preserve funding for roads and aviation.
Geography and Ridership Challenges
The United States also faces a geographic hurdle. Major cities are often spaced more than 400 miles apart, a distance where air travel becomes faster and more convenient. “Once you get much beyond 400 miles between destinations, high‑speed rail begins to lose out to air because then air becomes faster in the United States,” Thompson explained.
Ridership numbers further illustrate the gap. In Japan, hundreds of millions of passengers travel on high‑speed lines each year. By contrast, Thompson estimates that California’s projected demand for a high‑speed corridor would be only 30‑35 million annually. Amtrak’s Acela service between Washington and Boston carries about 12 million passengers per year, highlighting the difficulty of achieving the scale needed for profitability.
Current U.S. Options
Amtrak’s newly introduced NextGen Acela train can reach 160 mph, but only in short bursts. Brightline’s Florida line tops out at 125 mph and can sustain that speed for just a 38‑mile stretch near Orlando. Brightline reported 1.8 million passengers in the second quarter, a 16 percent increase over the prior year, and claims it was operating profitably in some months before the bankruptcy filing.
Despite the setbacks, Brightline maintains that its bankruptcy will allow it to shed debt and continue pursuing its western expansion without using taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, a publicly funded California high‑speed rail project linking Los Angeles to San Francisco remains years behind schedule and billions over budget, with Thompson describing it as having “reached a dead end.”
Looking Ahead
Kunz remains hopeful that a successful private line, such as Brightline’s proposed Los Angeles‑to‑Las Vegas route, could spark broader demand for high‑speed service across the country. Thompson, however, cautions that private investment alone will not suffice. “It’s not realistic to think high‑speed rail can be built and operated without some significant form of government support,” he said.
Beyond passenger convenience, proponents point to public benefits such as reduced pollution, lower noise levels, improved safety, and better land‑use outcomes—advantages that riders alone should not be expected to fund.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
