The transit expert Moles R Cool (@molesrcool) is known for debunking popular transportation myths on TikTok, and in one video, he showed how high-speed rail would save the United States billions of dollars.
Quoting a commenter, who had previously accused high-speed trains of being a waste of money, he responded: "[That] is the most wrong thing you could say about high-speed rail. It's actually one of the best possible uses of our money."
@molesrcool Replying to @palidian #greenscreen high speed rail is actually one of best possible things we can do with our money #highspeedtrain #bullettrain #traffic #cars ♬ Yacht Club - MusicBox
Continuing, he explained that every ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere comes with a cost. This isn't just a figurative cost; it's a literal cost measured by the government. And while the Biden administration set the figure at $51 per ton of CO2, he says that the EPA has proposed nearly quadrupling that to $190 per ton.
This is relevant to high-speed rail because a vast majority of emissions in the U.S. come from transportation — specifically, he points out, from cars.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, nearly 40% of annual emissions come directly from transit. In 2021, it reported that U.S. transit emissions were 1.7 billion metric tons. With the EPA's cost assessment, that would equate to $323 billion each year.
And while fossil-fuel-powered cars produce four times as much CO2 as trains, even electric vehicles are still twice as polluting as high-speed rail, according to data from TNMT.com cited in the video.
These numbers mean that, even with a multibillion-dollar price tag to build high-speed rail, the projects will still pay for themselves many times over, as Moles R Cool explains.
He also points out that taking cars off the road will allow cities to be more densely developed and walkable — which comes with health benefits including exercise and reduced air pollution, per the Climate Reality Project.
"Not to mention the personal savings on things like gas & maintenance," one commenter wrote. "Or better yet, no car means no car & insurance payments."
"Rail is the future. Safer, less stress, better cities, better for the environment," another agreed.
"If you can get people on trains, you can get people to walk," Moles R Cool concluded. "And if you can get people to walk, you can save billions and billions of dollars of damage to the economy."
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