RAILPLANES: The Proposal

Intercity high-speed trains in Europe, Japan, and China operate at top speeds just below 200 MPH. America can and must do better, say 250 to 350 MPH. We can do this, in part, because we have the benefit of other nation’s hindsight. But the European and Asian rail experience is not the right model for America.

The best model for high-speed rail in the US must include automobiles and airplanes. High-performance automobiles already achieve top speeds above 200 MPH. But they don’t do this safely or efficiently because cars don’t enjoy the benefits of rails. Airplanes, on the other hand, operate safely and efficiently above 500 MPH. High-speed trains can’t begin to approach airplane speeds, of course. Then again neither could cars or airplanes if they were linked like trains.

But large vehicles on rail can readily surpass 250 MPH. We call these very high-speed single-body vehicles railplanes. Railplanes make today’s high-speed trains obsolete. Not just because the trains are slower but also because managers must often choose to operate high-speed trains inefficiently: Either greatly below passenger capacity (which is very expensive) or infrequently (which is very inconvenient).

That’s a killer economic penalty. Given that American cities are further apart than other nations with their highly subsidized high-speed trains, the economic penalty of building high-speed trains throughout America would be even higher.

But the most important concept making railplanes profitable is not higher occupancy rates and increased trip frequencies. The big economic benefit is the direct result of cabin integrity and lightness combined with enhanced stability. This is achieved with airplane-like construction including streamlining and airfoils for controlled lift or drag.

Equally important is a very low center of gravity vis-à-vis the rails. This works best with widely spaced elevated tracks and wheels located on the sides of the cabin. Railplanes cruise effortlessly between rails, not above them, and through low turbulence air on all sides. The rails act as wings carrying a light passenger cabin further lightened by its forward movement and aerodynamic shape.

High-speed trains rely on heavy construction for stability. Most of this weight is just below the cabin floor. It is put here intentionally to lower the center of gravity of connected cars. Railplanes are different. They are naturally stable and energy efficient. Decibel levels near the tracks are low because the elevated infrastructure is barely stirred, never shaken. This makes the structure supporting railplanes lighter and less expensive to build than the heavy bulky structures today’s high-speed trains require.

Of course, railplanes do not yet exist. But they don’t exist because government has not given industry the incentive to develop them. Given our recent national commitment to high-speed rail, the time to consider new rail concepts is now. Given America’s existing infrastructures for cars, airplanes, and rail, a new rail infrastructure combining elements of all three transportation assets is well within our reach. America is the one country best positioned to make railplanes a game-changing technology. With rail transportation growing fast, American industry leads the world again.