High-Speed Rail: The Future is (Almost) Here
Carolyn Hayward, a Booz Allen Hamilton principal who spent 15 years servicing the European rail market, talks about how high-speed rail can succeed in the U.S.
Q: What is fueling the current renewed interest in high-speed rail?
Hayward: As auto and air travel become more congested and delays more commonplace, high-speed rail – with trains that exceed 90 miles an hour – is being envisioned as a new way of making “short hops” between cities, such as New York and Chicago, and San Francisco and Los Angeles. Today’s conventional trains often aren’t fast enough for business travelers and others for whom time is of the essence. The Obama administration is pushing for high-speed rail corridors to help boost the economy and as a green alternative to air and auto travel.
Q: What are the challenges to developing high-speed rail?
Hayward: High-speed rail is expensive – it requires trains with advanced crashworthiness, infrastructure with extensive derailment provisions, and special control systems to manage operation at high speeds. At speeds higher than 90 mph, high-speed rail must operate on new infrastructure, segregated from conventional track. But the Northeast Corridor has proven that high-speed rail travel is competitive with air and road alternatives.
Q: Is there a solution?
Hayward: We’re going to need a mix of strategies – while there will be some new railroad lines, a significant amount of high-speed rail development will come in incremental improvements to existing lines. The challenge is to create an investment strategy that looks at near-term priorities, corridor by corridor, but also keeps sight of the end goal –high speed, inter-city rail services.
Q: What role has Booz Allen been playing in high-speed rail?
Hayward: Booz Allen has been at the forefront of developing the requirements – including technical and safety standards – for high-speed rail in Europe. For example, we were closely involved in procurement and program-management oversight for a European high-speed rail client, in a six-year construction project that won many awards.
Q: What will it take to bring high-speed rail to the U.S.?
Hayward: We need to reap the benefit of the experiences of Europe and Asia, where high-speed rail has already been developed. The application of high speed rail technologies and standards will minimize development costs and offer economies of scale for equipment. Certainly, each project will require some bespoke designs, but standardization has proven to make parts of the rail industry cost effective.
Q: What is an example of a lesson that might be learned from Europe?
Hayward: If technologies are standardized, development costs for safety features, control systems and new infrastructure are all lower. Standardization also enables trains to be interoperable from city to city. For example, the European Union requires that every train have the same control system, so they can operate in any country.
Learn more about Booz Allen's work with passenger rail and mass transit clients.
story posted October 21, 2009
