At the end of the 19th century, train travel was the fastest way to see both coasts of the United States, leaving in its wake a rich legacy of American ingenuity, settlement and travel. However, in the advent of the interstate highway system and the subsequent take-off of the passenger jet industry, trains fell behind as the primary means of travel in the United States. Amtrak, the leader in passenger rail in North America, posted a net loss of $119.9 million in September 2008. Traveling by rail appears to be at risk of disappearing completely.
But on April 16 of this year, President Barack Obama announced in a speech that his administration planned to allocate $8 billion toward high-speed rail projects, giving the passenger rail industry the boost it needs. "These efforts will save money by untangling gridlock, saving lives by improving our roads, and save or create 150,000 jobs, mostly in the private sector," Obama said.
In fact, job creation will be among the first benefits realized by such an endeavor. And America needs it. According to the Department of Labor Statistics, the economic collapse of last year has left a strangle hold on the pocket books of many American families, with 466,000 now jobless as of last August alone. With the national unemployment rate at 9.6 percent, the United States could certainly use more jobs.
An early estimate by the U.S. High Speed Rail Association puts the completion of a national high-speed rail network by 2030. But individual states are already embarking on local high-speed rail lines. California, for example is planning a 500-mile line, connecting the cities of Anaheim and San Francisco.
Tony Daniels, the program director for the California High Speed Rail Authority says that construction on the mainline will begin as early as 2011. And according to a study by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, high-speed rail has the potential to generate thousands of jobs at varying levels of the employment, which include planning, engineering, construction, maintenance, service and operations.
"The benefits to all of us that live in America will be enormous, and it will create a tremendous amount of jobs," said Daniels.
Here are five kinds of jobs that Daniels and other experts in the railway industry think will come online in the next few years, as high-speed rail breaks ground around the country.
