High Speed Rail in the Ark-La-Tex

David Dean shows possibilities of high speed rail across Arkansas during yesterday's town hall meeting on rail at Texarkana College (pictured below). This form of high speed rail, while officials tout it being constructed by private dollars, is far more expensive than the more conventional "high performance rail" and is even higher than constructing interstate-standard highways.

Here are a few differences:

High Speed Rail Cost: $20 - $46 million per mile Speed: ~220 mph Floats above the track on magnets Can't using existing rail bed - must obtain new land for route

High Performance Rail Cost: $1.3 million per mile Speed: 80 - 110 mph Conventional steel wheel rail Can use existing track, but double tracking needed