President-elect Barack Obama should build a national bullet train network.

It is in keeping with his pledge to jolt the economy back to work and to take seriously the crisis of global warming.

Bullet trains operate at speeds between 150-300 mph. Networks of such trains are commonplace in Japan, France, Germany, Italy, England and many other countries.

Imagine being able to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just two and a half hours. This would be possible with a bullet train.

High-speed railway systems bring enormous economic, social and environmental benefits.

Economically, a coast-to-coast high-speed rail network would put Americans back to work.

In California alone, planners estimate creating nearly 160,000 construction-related jobs to plan, design and build the system, with an additional 450,000 permanent jobs by 2035. Overall, the state anticipates more than $1 billion in annual revenue from the rail system.

With the system in place, it would be cheaper and easier to travel between major cities. Professionals could avoid airport hassles. Families could afford vacations — and without enduring countless hours in crammed vehicles.

Bullet trains significantly improve the environment. Some can carry more than 1,300 passengers, so such trains could remove hundreds of thousands of cars per year from highways, thereby reducing the toxins cars release into the air. California officials project that building a network in their state would save 12.7 million barrels of oil per year by 2030, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 12 billion pounds per year.

"The choices that we make will help determine the type of country and world we leave to our children and grandchildren," Obama said recently.

Establishing a national high-speed passenger train service would go a long way toward ensuring a positive legacy.

Juleyka Lantigua is a journalist whose writings have appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the country. She can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.