High-speed rail

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High-speed rail is a proposed intercity passenger transportation service which would connect Birmingham with other cities using high-speed trains, either on tracks shared with commercial railroads at speeds of up to 110 miles per hour, or on dedicated tracks operating at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

In 1982 Congress approved the formation of a "Mississippi-Louisiana Rapid Rail Transit Compact", which allowed adjoining states to participate in planning for future high-speed rail projects in the Southern United States. After Alabama joined later that year, the compact evolved into the Southern Rail Commission.

The group undertook as its first major task organizing a commuter service between Baton Rouge and Mobile in advance of the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. The result was Amtrak's "Gulf Coast Limited" from New Orleans to Mobile. Once funding from the three states ran out in 1985 Amtrak ended the service. The commission continued to lobby for a permanent "Sunbelt Corridor" passenger train, but with Amtrak unable to secure a contract from the U.S. Postal Service, no progress was made.

In 1989 the Alabama Rail Transit Commission successfully lobbied Amtrak to divide its southbound "Crescent" at Birmingham. The 275-mile route, dubbed the "Gulf Breeze", made 7 stop between Birmingham and Mobile. That service was discontinued in 1995.

In 1991 the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) provided $12 million to the Federal Railroad Administration to study the feasibility of pursuing high-speed rail along five corridors nationwide. One of those, the "Southeast Corridor", would run from Washington D.C. to Charlotte, North Carolina via Richmond, Virginia. A Southeast Corridor Commission was established to carry out the funded planning activities.

In 1998 the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) provided funding for the study of six additional corridors, including an extension of the Southeast Corridor to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, and a new "Gulf Coast Corridor" from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and continuing on to Mobile.

In 2000 the U.S. Department of Transportation added a branch of the Gulf Coast Corridor to connect to the Southeast Corridor via Meridian, Mississippi and Birmingham. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused extensive damage to rail infrastructure across the northern Gulf Coast, retarding efforts to plan for expanded service.

Meanwhile, in 2006 the East Texas Corridor Council expanded its scope to include a proposed route paralleling I-20 between Fort Worth, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. The group changed its name to the I-20 Corridor Council and has received formal support from the Southern Rail Commission.

Such efforts have been supported by additional infrastructure legislation, including the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA), the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008 (ARRA). In accordance with ARRA, the Federal Railroad Administration released a "High-Speed Rail Strategic Plan" in April 2009.

In 2012 the Georgia Department of Transportation released a detailed report on the feasibility of extending high-speed rail service from Atlanta to Birmingham; to Jacksonville, Florida; and to Louisville, Kentucky. The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham participated in developing the Birmingham portion of the report, which recommended that a route between the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the Birmingham Intermodal Facility utilizing both shared and dedicated trackage should proceed to more detailed studies.

In 2020 Richard Finley of the Finley Group publicized a proposal for a privately-funded elevated train route from Dallas to Atlanta dubbed Interstate-20 eXpress High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail" (I-20X). The route would parallel I-20, with stops in Shreveport, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and Birmingham. The first phase would be the westernmost link between Atlanta and Birmingham, with a projected cost of $4.5 to $6 billion. Finley planned to host a 2020 I-20 High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Conference at the BJCC, but the event was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID pandemic. Finley's efforts to secure formal cooperation from Georgia's and Alabama's governors have been unsuccessful.

In December 2020 the Federal Rail Administration released its Southeast Regional Rail Planning Study, which included a "Corridor 13" proposal to create a route between Atlanta, Georgia and Memphis, Tennessee with a stop in Birmingham. The authors found most factors relating to the proposal to be favorable, with the exception of inclusion of the route in a State Rail Plan.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) included $102 billion for rail infrastructure, including appropriations for planned extensions and improvements to Amtrak service and high-speed intercity rail projects. The potential route proposed by the I-20 Corridor Council received a boost when the Kansas City Southern (KCS), which operates between Dallas and Meridian, Mississippi, merged with Canadian Pacific (CP). The new owners resolved in January 2022 to support Amtrak's expansion along its routes.

References

  • Coker, Angel (March 4, 2020) "New high-speed rail push in Birmingham eyes private sector." Birmingham Business Journal
  • "Amtrak and freight railway company, Canadian Pacific, announce CP’s formalized agreement to support expanded passenger rail routes in the Midwest and South." (January 11, 2022)
  • Greer, Jennifer (August 4, 2022) "High speed rail Birmingham to Atlanta." op-ed. Comback Town/The Birmingham News

External links

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