Media Contact:
Debi Miller, Marketing Communications Administrator
(414) 277-5628 / (262) 716-7868
debra.miller@quarles.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 14, 2012) — The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Thomas A. Hart Jr., the firm's Director of Government Relations in the Washington, D.C. office, served as literary agent and advisor for the high speed rail industry's first, most comprehensive and full illustrated book, Fast Trains - America's High Speed Future. 

Fast Trains was inspired in part by of the surge of popularity, interest and ridership in rail travel as Americans overwhelmingly support advancements and investment in public transportation. In many countries, people are travelling by high-speed trains at 186 miles per hour and higher. They are escaping the woes of long automobile commutes, gridlocked traffic, and the indignities of post-9/11 air travel and, instead, experiencing levels of convenience, comfort, amenities, and service not available to automobile and air travelers.

The book also focuses on the vast economic, environmental and lifestyle benefits of having a world-class high-speed rail system throughout America. Fast Trains foretells a bright future for high-speed rail through the use of vignettes that compare trips by automobile or airplane in the United States with high-speed rail trips elsewhere.

"I am pleased to be a part of this exciting project," said Hart. "This book serves as a source of information about the benefits and importance of developing a national rail network in America. It will educate and inspire students and elected officials to advocate and support high speed rail as a viable and efficient mode of public transportation."

The publication team consists of two high-speed rail advocates, author Emy Louie, director of public outreach for the United States High Speed Rail Association ("USHSR"), and Thomas Hart, partner at Quarles & Brady and advocate for high-speed rail policy and legislation for USHSR, veteran marketing communication expert and president of Bolts Creative, co-author Nancy Bolts, and Bruce Johnson, award-winning photographer, story designer and former correspondent for the New York Times and the Associated Press.

"Our goal is to remind the American public of the importance of this issue," said Louie. "We know a book is an effective way to really speak to people, and I'm confident in our team of experts to reach out to the public."

About US High Speed Rail Association

USHSR is the only organization in America focusing entirely on advancing a state-of-the-art national high speed rail network across the country. Their mission is to build widespread public, business, and political support for a major investment in a national high speed rail network. They are an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(6) trade association chartered to organize and mobilize the industry with a shared vision for a 21st century, 17,000 mile national high speed rail system built in phases for completion by 2030.

About Quarles & Brady LLP

Quarles & Brady LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 400 attorneys practicing from offices in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Naples and Tampa, Fla.; Chicago, Ill; Madison and Milwaukee, Wis.; Washington, D.C.; and Shanghai, China. The firm provides an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients, which range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Additional information about the firm may be found at www.quarles.com, and on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

At one point in this great video featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, he says, in regard to other countries being the leaders in high-speed rail, “What is that?  It makes me MAD that we are not number #1 and that we do not have it in the USA. We are supposed to be the leaders…the #1 country in the world!”

I can relate, but he also made me smile.  I had this image of AHHnold as the Terminator walking up the stairs to the Capital building.

But the truth is we all should be a little mad.

The economic, environmental, and lifestyle benefits of high-speed rail are enormous. Arnold talks about them all in this video and Emy and I champion those benefits in our book Fast Trains: America's High Speed Future. People, especially “everyday people,” who have read it tell me it makes them a little angry too.  And, that it makes them want to take action now.

Very good news, though, was written in a recent e-mail blast from the US High Speed Rail Association:

“HIGH SPEED RAIL IS COMING TO AMERICA!

High-speed rail is red-hot! Projects are moving forward in a number of corridors around America, jobs are being created, factories are opening and energy is being saved.  The largest project - California - is set to start its first $6 Billion phase!”

So keep watching closely, take action and be glad, not mad.  I sure am.

Nancy Bolts

(RALEIGH, N.C.) -On September 19, a team of versatile talents will release the high-speed rail industry's newest fully illustrated book on paper back, Fast Trains: America's High Speed Future.  The team consists of a high-speed rail spokesperson, a marketing expert, and an award-winning photographer who have worked tirelessly to create this compelling new book about the benefits of a vigorous high-speed rail system throughout the United States.

Author Emy Louie, is the director of public outreach for the United States High Speed Rail Association (USHSR), a national non-profit that aims to build public, business and political support for a nationwide high-speed rail system.  Co-Author Nancy Bolts, is a world-wide advertising veteran who is now president of Bolts Creative Communications.  Bruce Johnson, the story designer has been nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize for his photojournalism work during stints with the New York Times and the Associated Press . All three share a passion for making high-speed rail a reality in the United States. "Our goal is to remind the American public of the importance of this issue," said Louie. "We know a book is an effective way to really speak to people, and I'm confident in our team of experts to reach out to the public."

The newest addition to the leadership team is Thomas Hart is Vice President of Government Affairs for the USHSR and a partner and Director of Government Relations Quarles & Brady Law Firm in Washington D.C. Thomas Hart will partner with Louie and Bolts in the promotion of Fast Trains. Hart is responsible for the general advocacy for high-speed rail policy and legislation in the United States for USHSR and has significant influence among political circles and high-speed rail aficionados.

Three months after its May 21 release in e-book form this year, Fast Trains became the top ranked and one of the top 25 best-selling books in its category on Amazon.com.  “The book tells intriguing narratives from the point of view of the author as well as characters,” said co-author Bolts. “It makes an emotional connection with the public and arouses the imagination of an America with modern high-speed rail moving transportation into the 21st century,” said co-author Bolts.

The USHSR is a national non-profit that aims to build public, business and political support for a nationwide high-speed rail system.  For more information on the USHSR, visit www.ushsr.com.  For more information about the book, visit www.fasttrainsbook.com. For media inquiries or advance media credentials, contact Nancy Bolts at (919) 324-5779.

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Looking back on the harsh conditions around July 4th in Washington D.C. this year, it all seems a bit ironic.

The Fourth of July, a day that is meant to represent the continual preservation of our freedom, was met with bad thunderstorms, bad traffic and  a widespread blackout, leaving millions sweltering in overwhelming heat.  At least 26 people died in the storm or the aftermath that caused the blackout.

These conditions dampened the spirits of potential revelers, causing them to give up their plans to celebrate, thus, indirectly restraining their independence. Even Fast Trains author Emy, canceled her plans to celebrate in D.C. because she wanted to avoid the 90-100 degree weather.

There are current conditions in our nation that are prohibiting our freedom to travel with ease whenever we desire.  Temperatures are ever increasing and causing us to evaluate how we use energy and how we can combat climate change.  It is a vicious cycle in transportation, and it needs to stop.

I think it is interesting to contrast these conditions to the possibilities of high-speed rail.  A fully functioning HSR system would take a considerable number of cars traveling from city to city off the roads, decreasing gas emissions and traffic congestion.

The irony of the Fourth of July in Washington D.C. this year serves as a strange foreboding omen to me of what is to come if we do not stop the cycle of harmful transportation practices and push towards sustainability.  How are we to celebrate independence in blacked-out neighborhoods, 100+ degree heat and congested high-ways?  

High-speed rail in this case wouldn’t just make travel more convenient.  On a deep level, it exists to preserve our freedom and foster the great innovation in America to keep moving forward and moving faster. In order to celebrate and continue our independence, we have to depend on accessible and renewable energy sources that are reliable forever.  Only then can we truly celebrate Independence Day.

“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice and is never the result of selfishness.” –Napoleon Hill

When President Kennedy introduced the dream of putting a man on the moon, he was met with criticism and disbelief.  The task seemed daunting and nearly impossible, but he pushed toward the goal, assuring Americans that it would be worth it.

Sacrifice initially seems to be undesirable for some people as if they are being asked to give of themselves without purpose or reward.  Not many people fully understand how a sacrifice will affect future conditions, and they often find it better to avoid any risk in general.   We have learned from this experience of putting a man on the moon that sacrifices do have their rewards.  No one in the sixties, not even President Kennedy himself, could have known exactly how taking that risk would spark an era of innovation and affirm America’s stance as a world power.

In the same way, we can’t yet grasp exactly how our efforts in bringing high-speed rail to the United States will affect the country, but Americans must see that there is a need for change in transportation.  I strongly believe that high-speed rail is the solution.

This idea is amply presented and advanced in my book, Fast Trains:America’s High Speed Future, which I co-authored with Nancy Bolts.  We hope to share with the general public through relatable stories about high-speed rail travel around the world how we believe in high-speed rail and understand its overwhelming benefits.  Our book brings these benefits to life and encourages Americans to invest in bringing high-speed rail to America. 

We must ask: With all these benefits, what exactly is the sacrifice in having a high-speed rail system?  We need to get used to the idea of completely revolutionizing the way Americans move across cities.  Yes, we will deal with years of construction and  government allocations, but when faced with constant over-crowded highways, long security lines, unsafe roads and threatening amounts of automobile gas emissions,  the inconveniences during the construction period of high-speed rail are far less daunting. The short term sacrifices do not stand in comparison to the possibilities and conveniences that high-speed rail will bring.  If only we understood high-speed rail’s potential, we would readily embrace sacrifice.

The American people are going to have to get out of their comfort zones and revolutionize the way they see travel.  They will need to see the possibilities of high-speed rail with an open mind and a willingness to change what is routine.  This includes spending time learning about high-speed rail and sustainability in general and committing to help bring this tremendously beneficial industry to America.  Only once the public is on board, will things start moving.  Once high-speed rail is fully established, I believe the public will develop a new dependence on high-speed rail as a means of transportation.  Fast trains will be the norm, and one day parents will tell their kids how they used to sit in traffic for hours to get from one city to the next.  They will look back on the transitional years of construction and think to themselves, the sacrifice was worth it.

After considering all the benefits, high-speed rail really is no sacrifice at all.  It is a good investment.  The real sacrifice of our future comes if we remain “business as usual.” We must remind ourselves of the progress in our past and, like President Kennedy, continually push ourselves to invest in our future.

We live in an information age.  Information is cheap.  It's easy and almost always at the tip of our fingers.

With the rise of smartphone technology, there is no more stopping at a gas station to ask for directions or turning the "yellow pages" to find businesses.  Ever since the invention of the headline in a news story, Americans have craved the quick and simple truth.

Authors Emy Louie and Nancy Bolts understand this craving for information.  That's why their book, Fast Trains: America's High Speed Future, is rife with valuable facts about the environmental, economic and lifestyle benefits of high-speed rail.

But why write a book full of information about high-speed rail when this kind of information is almost essentially free?

The answer is that Fast Trains doesn't stop at the information.  It makes an emotional connection with the public through stories about high-speed rail travel.  Emy and Nancy understand Americans' dependency on quick facts, but they also acknowledge the power of a book.

There is something about a book that keeps us grounded and gives us perspective.  It allows us to absorb the motives, experience the hope and get lost in the passion of the authors.  Readers spend plenty of time alone with books. This allows concepts to truly sink in and serves as  an invaluable tool to influence behaviors and emotions.

Authors Emy and Nancy hope to create a message that resonates with the average person.  What better way is there to communicate on a deep level with a mass audience than to write a book?

Fast Trains in particular takes the reader on a journey from cover to cover, making points and tying together themes along the way.  The authors list the benefits of high-speed rail, but they also interconnect them and compellingly display them as exciting and achievable possibilities through entertaining narratives about HSR in other countries. Yes, HSR will help the economy, but the authors hope to convey how all of the benefits improve the quality of life for our future.

"People will learn about benefits," said Emy, "however you have to explain them in such a way that makes them remember, and that is through stories."

Many blogs, websites and books have been written about the benefits of HSR, but Fast Trains is the only book since post 9/11 travels that also incorporates classic archetypal stories about high-speed rail and other forms of transportation.

Searching for facts about the benefits of high-speed rail is certainly not the same as reading Emy and Nancy's book. Some HSR material and books have the tendency is to put in too much technical information that loses the general public.   Even someone who feels he knows all there is to know about the topic will benefit from reading Fast Trains from an emotional standpoint.

"It's like watching a movie," said author Emy Louie, "We have created an emotional set of stories that stick and connect with the American public."

The authors write with contagious passion and hope for an HSR system that cannot be matched by a list of facts. Fast Trains will inform, yes, but most importantly it will instill a desire for HSR throughout the United States.

Don't settle for the search engine.  Experience the heart behind it all.  Be open to the possibilities. Live vicariously through the lives of the people who already enjoy HSR.

Fast Trains is not a book for those who just want to learn about high-speed rail.  It is for those who need to experience it.

-Rachel Lewis, Guest Blogger

Overcrowded highways and post-9/11 air travel woes have become an expected norm in transportation.

We often spend more time in the security and check-in lines at the airport than we do on the actual plane.  What American stuck in a five-lane traffic jam on the I-5 with the kids shouting, “Are we there yet?!” has not thought to herself: “There must be a better way.”

As part of an hour-long interview on Marilyn Shannon’s “Breaking Free” show, Nancy and Emy discuss high-speed rail’s potential to change the traveler’s experience to a pleasant and enjoyable one 

“We have come to accept really being uncomfortable and stressed by our travel,” said Nancy, “[High-speed rail] is such a humane, civilized way of traveling, and it comes out in the book.”

Emy and Nancy’s book, Fast Trains: America’s High-Speed Future, focuses on the importance of the traveler’s experience. “[The book] helps you understand how it is to experience all these different types of high-speed rail across the world,” Emy remarked.  Through compelling testimonies of families traveling on HSR in countries like Japan, the lifestyle benefits come alive for the readers.

“We did it in such a way that we didn’t want to be negative about our current conditions, but they can be so much better,” said Nancy on comparing high-speed rail to other forms of travel.

It’s something to get excited about, not just because of the environmental or economic benefits, but because of the potential to improve the overall experience of travel.  High-speed rail can bear our travel burdens and change the way Americans think of transportation.

Nancy described it best in a few sentences: “The good things about the train are not going to change.  There will be the ability to get up and walk to a place and have something to eat.  Your kids can run to the bathroom when they need to.  There are really wonderful things about trains now.  It’s just the addition of this incredible speed and the convenience of it.”

-Rachel Lewis, guest blogger

Trains are a crucial part of American history and are tied to decades of technological and industrial progression.  In the book, Fast Trains: America’s High Speed Future, the authors Emy Louie and Nancy Bolts say it is as American as baseball or apple pie.

Co-author Bolts, part of a family deeply rooted in the train industry, describes her feelings and experience with trains as pleasurable. “I have a lot of good memories and association with train travel, and I enjoy it,” said Bolts in an interview on Marilyn Shannon’s show, "Breaking Free” Even the English vocabulary is teeming with train related phrases and words such as “caboose,” “on track” and “all aboard.”

However, Louie and Bolts stress that the association with trains shouldn’t stop at the feelings of nostalgia.  “I feel rather terrible that trains nowadays are seen as something nostalgic…when point in fact is we can also look forward,” said Louie.

It is not the end in the great tale of trains.

Emy and Nancy proclaim in their book that there is still much to expect from these once revolutionary and inspiring machines. They provided a new way for people to move more effortlessly across cities, making travel more convenient, thus sparking the Industrial Revolution.

The tendencies of trains to seemingly shorten distances still exist, but it is all contingent upon that one important adjective: fast.

Emy and Nancy’s book, Fast Trains, plunges into this concept, by compellingly sharing train narratives and the undeniable benefits of a high speed rail system throughout the United States.

America is embarking on cutting-edge technology and sustainable innovation and progressing beyond the happy memories of the choo-choo train era.  Imagine the possibilities we have to look forward to in a future in high-speed rail.

As author Emy Louie stated in her interview, “That’s what this book, Fast Trains, is all about.  It’s about looking forward as well as looking back.”

-Rachel Lewis, guest blogger

The thing to remember is that high speed rail can serve the middle class and and is not just for the affluent.  Hardly.  France high speed rail (TGV system) is affordable and makes a profit because the SNCF knows how to price its fares to serve consumer needs.  It's simple: they make regular TGV seats and non-rush hour fares affordable but then charge more on prices during rush hour and for upgraded seating.  It's sort of like paying for a matinee at the movie theater: during non-peak hours (which is most hours throughout the day) you pay a lot less; then during peak hours you pay twenty or thirty percent more.  The movie theaters make a good profit doing this, and so does TGV in France.

So some continue to ask and continue to worry about how will high speed rail pay for itself over the long term and also be affordable to customers?  And now you know.  But this is only one of many methods HSR can turn a pretty profit and be of tremendous benefit to middle class America and everyone who travels the country each day.  Or order your copy of Fast Trains: America;’s High Speed Future -- everything you need to know about the benefits of high speed rail and the fast trains is yours to be had right away.

Nancy Bolts, co-author of Fast Trains: America’s High Speed Future

I just returned from having attended the US High Speed Rail Association California Conference, in San Francisco. I got to meet lots of interesting, important people all involved in some way with Bullet Trains and high speed rail.  And I was able share many of my thoughts and desires with them on these subjects.
 
As you might expect, all the issues and events surrounding the development of California highspeed rail were foremost on our minds. Most notably, of course, is that California must approve $2.7 B by June 30 to avoid losing $3.3 B in Federal funding.

On this subject I enjoyed some very informative presentations from numerous HSR experts as well as from those with high profiles in government and business.
 
With pleasure, I was able to announce the publication of the e-book version of our book “Fast Trains - America’s High Speed Future” for it became available on Amazon.com on the second day of the conference (you can order your copy at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00847FNNK).  With California high speed rail so prevalent on everyone’s agenda, my announcement created quite a bit of buzz at the conference, and I found this very gratifying.

As it is, Fast Trains could not have been published at a more relevant time.  My announcement being made at this important conference (especially since it was being held in California) was timely indeed.  California is a state that is probably the most in need of HSR as an urgent solution to its many economic and transportation problems (that include gridlock and too many cars on too many highways, rising gas prices, needed highway and infrastructure improvements, as well as the need for an infusion of capital and jobs, jobs, jobs!).  Hopefully, though, with the construction of California high speed rail, we will have the first leg of an connection that will ultimately join numerous communities and many big cities across our entire continent.
 
A bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco makes so much sense and it shall be a train that the middle class will afford to ride, per Dan Richard, the chair person of the California High-Speed Rail Atuhority’s ’s the comments. Will it be enough to the California State Assembly to approve the budget by June 30?  It’s possible.

However, I wish I could get my book into the hands of the powers that be.  Even if its ability to communicate and reinforce the benefits of HSR only plays a small role in seeing the bond initiative pass in the California State Legislator, it is definitely worth it.  We all need to stay tuned to all that is happening in The Golden State.  California high speed rail needs public support, especially in the coming months.
 
But please read my book.  It is comprehensive and thorough as well as a joy to read.  It brings to light the urgent need for high speed rail and bullet trains.  It also honestly and completely covers the many challenges facing HSR’s implementation.  But most of all, it compellingly highlights the benefits of HSR, which is especially important to Californians who have no real options other  than the automobile and the antiquated, dilapidated highway system in the state that is slowing failing to accommodate it.

There is a narrative in our book Fast Trains that really highlights the trials and tribulations of traveling by car in California.  A single mom sets out to drive from San Jose to Los Angeles and during her trip has to suffer what millions of other drivers in California routinely suffer on a daily basis driving in California.  I think everyone will enjoy reading this and the other narratives in Fast Trains.  However, my point here is that an unpleasant six to eight-hour trip by car from San Jose to L.A. can become a pleasant and most enjoyable (and affordable!) journey that only takes 2.5 hours by a Californian high speed rail bullet train.  This is not fiction but fact, and California in the next couple months is on the cusp of making it reality.  Let’s hope!

Emy Louie