Report: HSR’s significant economic impact

The U.S. Conference of Mayors today released a new report positively assessing the economic impact of high-speed passenger rail along proposed HSR corridors in the United States. The report, prepared by the Economic Development Research Group and sponsored by Siemens, analyzed the potential economic impact of HSR in the four cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Albany.

The four cities studied could significantly benefit from high-speed
rail with as many as 150,000 new jobs and some $19 billion in new
business revenues created in total.

The report examined job
creation, the effects of improved market access, greater connectivity,
travel time savings, as well as increased income and business sales.
Study findings show that HSR in the U.S. could significantly increase
jobs and business sales if fully implemented as planned by 2035. Higher
potential impacts were noted when travel times between cities were
reduced to under three hours.

New Business, New Jobs

The
study also demonstrated that HSR service could help drive
higher-density, mixed-use development projects surrounding the stations,
ranging from current station additions in Chicago, to new hotel
development in Orlando and Albany, as well as additional large-scale
developments adjacent to Union Station in Los Angeles. Such local
development could help create approximately 30,000 new jobs across these
four cities alone.

Total new business and job growth projections
include:

• In Los Angeles, up to $7.6 billion per year in new
business, including $4.3 billion per year in Gross Regional Product
(GRP) growth and up to 55,000 jobs.
• In Chicago, up to $6.1 billion
per year in new business, including up to $3.6 billion per year in GRP
growth and up to 42,000 jobs.
• In Orlando, up to $2.9 billion per
year in new business, including up to $1.7 billion per year in GRP
growth and up to 27,500 jobs.
• In Albany, up to $2.5 billion per
year in new business, including up to $1.4 billion per year in GRP
growth and up to 21,000 jobs.

Additionally, HSR’s projected larger
flow of passengers will lead to increased tourism and business travel,
generating additional spending at local hotels, restaurants and retail
stores. Projections show that by 2035, HSR can annually add roughly $255
million in the Orlando area; $147 million in the Los Angeles area; more
than $100 million in the Albany-Saratoga area; and $42 million in the
Chicago area.

Benefits to both Business and the Environment

In
addition to significant new business and job growth, the report
concludes that HSR service could lead to cost savings for travel time,
as well as less road and airport congestion. HSR access will also allow
travelers without cars to reach destinations previously only accessible
by automobile.

Beyond cost and time savings, HSR will have a
positive impact on the environment as each rail car can remove as many
as 200 vehicles from the road, producing up to ten times less CO2 per
rail trip than the equivalent number of road journeys.

"We have
been a global leader in high-speed rail for decades and have seen its
economic and environmental benefits realized in other countries," said
Oliver Hauck, president of the Mobility division of Siemens Industry,
Inc. "By switching to high-speed rail, we not only vastly reduce fuel
and carbon dioxide emissions, but also improve traffic flow, ultimately
reducing America’s annual fuel use. Our calculations show that just in
the four cities studied, a high-speed rail system would reduce annual
carbon emissions for intercity travel by 2.8 million tons a year. This
translates to a reduction of more than one-third of the total carbon
currently generated by intercity travel in the four cities."

Increasingly
Transparent Borders Broaden Labor Markets

Results also point to
an increased economic payback when travel time between cities is cut to
less than three hours. Shorter commuting times give businesses greater
access to more workers with specialized skills while workers gain access
to more employment opportunities.

"These expanded markets offer
important new opportunities, especially in an era of flexible work
schedules where daily commutes are not required," explained Cochran.
"High-speed rail will push back the borders that currently exist for
commuters and widen the talent pool available to work in a particular
market."

In Los Angeles, high-speed trains are expected to
increase commuting options from outlying areas such as Palmdale and
business trips from the Central Valley and San Diego. In Orlando, they
will enable commuting from the Lakeland area and day trips from Tampa
and in Chicago from the Milwaukee area and day trips from cities such as
Madison. Finally, in Albany, faster trains can bring the local area
within the range of a commute, or an easy one-day business day trip to
New York City.

The report also revealed that the availability of
HSR will prove beneficial for communities considered to be technology
clusters by enhancing day-trip links between R&D and university
research centers as well as sites where advanced products are produced.