SOCIAL BENEFITS AS PART OF THE ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF HIGH SPEED RAIL

Ralf Wilhelms
Lake Superior State University
ABSTRACT
Volatile gas prices and ever increasing congestion on the highways and at airports are
demanding advancements in the transportation industry. In order to lessen some of the current
transportation issues, current administration has taken preliminary steps to develop a high-speed
rail network in the United States. This study aims at analyzing the economic viability of two
possible high-speed rail lines while emphasizing the social benefits afforded by them. The social
benefits included were reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, increase in worker productivity,
and decrease in traffic fatalities. The two lines were proved to be much more economically viable
with the inclusion of the social benefits than they were from a purely financial standpoint. By
including the social benefits into the equation, high-speed rail could be more economically viable
in some places than was previously thought by using financial costs alone.