Thread by @bopinion

America needs to embrace the high-speed rail.

Trains running 200 miles an hour can connect people to jobs as much as 100 miles away from where they live🚆 bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v

The most productive cities in America are notoriously short of housing. The barrier to urban newcomers reduces total U.S. economic growth by 36%.

The easiest solution? High-speed trains. bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v

Astronomical home prices make it hard for people who aren’t inherently wealthy to afford to live cities like these:

🌆 Boston
🗽 New York
🌉 San Francisco
🌇 Portland
🏙️ Seattle

bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v

High-speed rail has proved to be an enormous benefit for cities in China where fast trains have been built.

Real estate prices grow when medium-sized cities become connected to big cities by high-speed rail bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v

There are huge disparities in productivity across U.S. cities. Fast rail transit is a feasible way to provide affordable access to jobs without needing to build significant quantities of new housing bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v

The median home price in San Jose, California, is $631 per sq ft, 4x as high as that in Merced, which is 100 miles away.

If it were possible to commute at high speeds from Merced to San Jose, workers could have both good jobs and homes within their means bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v

Yes, high-speed rail is expensive to build. But the economic payoff can be great.

🚄 Fast trains allow people to work and play in big cities and still live somewhere they can afford bloom.bg/2Ejhu4v