How Green Is High-Speed Rail? There's a lot of talk right now
about the capital costs of high-speed rail - the planned Los
Angeles-San Francisco line, which would be the model for
America, may eventually cost some $98 billion (or about $75
billion in 2010 money) - but for the most part its environmental
benefits are taken for granted. Rail transport tends to be
greener than car and air travel, so it stands to reason that as
high-speed rail attracts people off the roads and runways, net
carbon emissions will fall. Often that comparison overlooks one
critical detail: the environmental damage caused by building
high-speed rail lines in the first place. Unless high-speed rail
travel reduces emissions by more than what it generates during
construction, the project may not be worthwhile from an
environmental perspective. Indeed, some researchers have their
doubts. A recent British study suggests that high-speed
construction emissions may be significant enough to call entire
projects into question, writes Eric Morri