649 We affirm the resolution: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its investment in high-speed rail. Our sole contention is the revitalization of American Transportation

(649)
We affirm the resolution: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its
investment in high-speed rail.
Our sole contention is the revitalization of American Transportation
For more than a century, people in America moved by rail. Thousands of miles of track connected cities coast to coast and drove our industrial revolution. But with the advent of automobiles and airplanes, the government abandoned rail, and instead, embraced interstates and airports.
This has proved to be a pernicious mistake. Decades of neglect and underinvestment have resulted in the slow capitulation of railroads; the fastest train in America averages just
66
miles per hour while the rest of the world travels in trains that top 250 miles per hour.
The absence of efficient rail systems across the country has exacerbated pollution, barriers to opportunity, and chronic congestion which all serve as a drag on economic growth.
Fortunately, building high-speed rail can solve in two ways
First, Improving Connectivity
The US relies on a transportation system designed nearly
60 years ago. Not only has the population doubled since then, but changing demographics have fostered the emergence of
11
new megaregions by
2050 which hosts over
75 percent of the country’s population and employment.
However, chronic congestion and dilapidated infrastructure is suppressing connectivity within and between megaregions, posing a stranglehold on their development and the economy.
Indeed,
Moretti 21
quantities that 47 percent of interstates are congested while
20 percent of flights are delayed or canceled. As a result, Americans cancel 47.5 million trips every year and lose two-and-a-half work weeks of time sitting on the road. The loss in productivity and wasted fuel cost the economy over
165 billion dollars.
To remove the stranglehold congestion is imposing on megaregions, America must construct a high-speed rail system.
Stein 12 of MIT
explains that high-speed rail promotes high-Intra regional accessibility, substitutes medium-range air travel, and adds capacity to transportation corridors.
Indeed,
Rodrigue 20
corroborates that just one high-speed rail corridor can carry up to 400,000
passengers per day,
providing
10 times the capacity of airplanes and 20 times the capacity of highways.
Lorenz 20
highlights that faster and more efficient travel can essentially bring cities closer, foster new collaborations, connect innovation hubs, and allow residents of megaregions to live and work wherever they want.

For this reason,
Paige 20
explains that high-speed rail can produce over 5 million new jobs annually while
APTA
continues that for every 1 dollar invested in high-speed rail, 4 dollars in economic growth is created.
Second, Sustainable Development
America runs on oil. Its fuel-guzzling automobiles and airplanes have made it the world’s biggest oil consumer, consuming a quarter of the world's supply despite representing just 5 percent of its population and
2 percent of its oil reserves.
This puts the US in a double bind.
https://www.cnn.com/2011/11/18/world/how-green-is-hsr
Not only does this unsustainable practice emit
30 percent of America’s total greenhouse gases, but it also makes the economy vulnerable to volatile oil prices because
2/3
of America's oil is imported, much of it from unstable countries
, making its oil supply susceptible to unstable events and manipulation.
Constructing high-speed rail is the only viable solution to significantly reduce oil consumption while increasing mobility and prosperity. A comprehensive study from 2006 concluded that a high-speed rail system could reduce the number of annual car trips by 29 million and flights by 500,000, while
Paige 20
estimates that it can reduce the total number of intercity trips by 20 percent.
For this reason,
Columbia University explains that this can save over 27,000 people annually from air pollution while greatly decreasing the chance of a recession.
Fox 22
explains that just a 17 percent surge in oil prices will spark an economic recession in the US over the next year. The last recession in 2008 saw over
43 million families fall into poverty.
Affirm.