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A study looks into the future of high-speed rail in the United States

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The United States has lagged way behind other nations in high-speed rail – which includes trains with top speeds of up to 180 miles an hour. What would it take for us to catch up?

Those are some of the questions being tackled in a study digging into Americans' thoughts on high-speed rail. Wayne State University, in partnership with the University of Michigan and Drexel University, has launched this two-and-a-half-year study.

The study looks into the future of transportation and how high-speed rail in the United States will fit into that future.

The study focuses on how people feel about high-speed rail and how they envision the future of transportation.

Allen Batteau is the leader of the study. He is a cultural anthropologist and associate professor of anthropology at Wayne State University.

Batteau’s hope for the study is to move the discussion of high-speed rail away from "how much will it cost" to forming a vision of how high-speed rail can help bring us together.

Susan Zielinski is the head of the Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation (SMART) at the University of Michigan.

Zielinski says transportation is evolving into many different options and it is important to look into those options as our society evolves with it. 

*Listen to full interview above.

– Bre'Anna Tinsley, Michigan Radio Newsroom

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