Amtrak’s CEO says rail system will change slowly

If all of these ‘roads’ and ‘sewers’ and ‘schools’ and ‘armies’ and ‘airports’ and ‘waste facilities’ and ‘fire fighters’ are so needed, why don’t private companies start providing them instead of wasting my taxpayer dollars?

Ohhhhhh…..

These things are mutually agreed upon public services provided for public use by our national, state, and local governments.

Hmmmmmmm…..

My taxpayer dollars pay for transportation infrastructure ALREADY.

In the true spirit of America, I will speak my mind on how those dollars are spent.  I don’t agree with the current American growth (sprawl) model.  I do not want to subsidize an inefficient and wasteful mode of travel (air) over a much more sustainable intercity travel model.  I prefer long term solutions over short term solutions.

It will be a huge project taking decades and costing billions of dollars, but look at the return.  This is not just money ‘thrown away’ (see Iraq War). Americans will be doing all of the construction work, American factories will be building the necessary supplies and equipment for construction and service, American cities will suddenly become much closer and more integrated, American citizens from all walks of life will benefit from improved mobility.  The negatives pale in comparison with the positives.

I think (and most of the first world outside of the USA) that my tax money is being wasted on an unsustainable growth model encouraging sprawl, car DEPENDENCE (not personal independence), wasteful energy usage, and national instability due to America’s huge appetite for OIL.  To not have HSR weakens our society and nation.  If our cities were interconnected with comfortable, fast, safe, reliable, affordable HSR, we would experience a period of stability, growth, and urban renewal unparalleled in our nation’s history. 

What is shocking is how alone America is in this battle against HSR.  We are the only place on the planet that has the wealth and proficiency to put this technology to work that is not actually doing so today.

And if you want to talk population, get ready for another 100 million Americans by 2050.  How big are the highways/intersections/roadways going to have to be to accommodate all of those extra ‘American Dream’ drivers…?

Watch what happens IF and WHEN:

Somewhere in the USA (California hopefully) a single MSA to MSA HSR line finally goes into service on dedicated tracks.

This debate will be mute.

So hastylife, we are supposed to analyze investments by emotion, instead of costs and benefits? Isn’t that the kind of approach that got us the Community Development Reinvestment Act, the source, at least in my opinion, of most of the turmoil in the mortgage industry that has caused of the chaos in the financial markets?

Let’s clear up a couple of items here.  First The Pennsylvania Railroad had plans to electrify its lines to Pittsburgh after completing the segment to Harrisburg in 1938.  Only World War Two prevented this work.  After the War the PRR was in hard times and instead turned to diesel haulage as a way to reduce costs despite a heavy investment in newer steam engines.  The PRR to its credit did purchase new electric locomotive for its territory under the wire including the E44s and the prototype Metroliners.  (That is another story).

As for the Interstate Highway system Eisenhower and Nixon both courted State governors with their vision of the National Highway System at a meeting in December 1954.  One of the selling points that has become something of an urban legend is the defense aspect of the highways.  Ike had a bitter experience with railroad companies as a young officer and many saw this as payback.  In reality it was recognized early on, especially in metropolitan areas, the landing of planes and such was near impossible. Yet it was a powerful PR tool for the administration.

With the passage of the Highway Act in 1956 the railroads woke up to the fact they were being unfairly treated in this new scheme of things.  One of the ironies of this whole discussion was they used the same arguments as many here against public investment in the highways.  New York Central President Alfred Pearlman even made a theatrical short film about this topic.  “Why,” he ask, “should public monies be used to pay for highways when the railroads have to pay State and local taxes to support them?” 

In 1961 the Association of American Railroads approached Congress in order to address some of these grievances.  Congress turned a deaf ear.  It wasn’t until late 1967 they would pass the first High Speed Rail Act and slowly begin to address this issue. 

It should also be noted that during the years 1943-65 rail travelers paid a tax on tickets that could have funded much infrastructure development much like the Highway and Aviation trust funds.  Unfortunately, Congress did not create such a funding mechanism for trains and instead repealed the ticket tax.  It wasn’t until the late 1950s when various State government s in the Northeast began to subsidize local commuter operations that the whole notion of public funding for rail began to take hold.

Finally we need to realize the changes proposed here are at best modest that in time will result in service improvements.  I at least thankful we are seeing bipartisan support for such investment.

DarnYankee: The implication of your first statement is that the American Dream cannot or should not be questioned?  Even if it involves consuming many times more energy per person than any other country on the planet, and polluting ourselves out of existence.  I’ll take a different American Dream, thank you.  In fact, a lot of people mean a lot of things by “American Dream.“  Unfortunately most people now seem to think mainly of the “right” to consume as they wish without thoughts of the consequences.  We value our freedom so much that we’re willing to let millions of people go without decent health care because, well, having the government involved would supposedly constrain the rights of a few.  By the way, ever been to Europe or Japan?  It doesn’t sound like you have.  Having lived in Germany for several years (surprisingly not in a “fetid apartment”), I can attest that the quality of life is quite good, and their political system is actually more democratic than ours in many ways. 

Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I get the sense that for you it boils down to the market.  For me the market is not the best regulator of our social life and needs (and it’s never been a truly “free” market anyway).  I see a great value in public services, smart planning, and serious attention to the consequences of our decisions.  That does involve constraining our “freedoms” as we now think of them, but I’m not convinced those are the freedoms that matter most.

Just how is the culture of the U.S. so different that rail won’t work?  It worked in the past.  The U.S. is bigger, but HSR is mainly thought of in regional terms here, and would function best that way: e.g. linking Charlotte to Richmond to DC to NY on the eastern seaboard. 

Nobody here seems willing to engage the issue of costs that go beyond the direct costs of building roads.  No, the gas taxes etc. do not pay the full cost of the car/truck based transportation system we now have.  If the culture in the U.S. is somehow incompatible with trains now (which I don’t think is totally true), it’s only because we (with big help from the oil, auto, and housing industries) have made it that way.  That doesn’t mean it can’t change. 

In fact, whether we like it or not, it has to.  There are convincing studies that we cannot just make cars that run on different kinds of fuel and keep on going like we are now.  We won’t be able to build enough wind turbines etc. to power millions of electric cars, and coal just perpetuates the problem. 

And as far as sprawl is concerned, Richmond becoming a bedroom community for DC, whatever other up and down sides that may have, will only lead to sprawl if the counties let it.  If Henrico in particular could pull itself out of the last century in terms of planning, further sprawl could be easily prevented.  In this regard it’s important to keep in mind that high speed rail and mass transit only really make sense as part of a larger transformation in the way we think about transportation and land use.  If that isn’t part of the planning yet, it needs to be—although bringing HSR to Main St. Station in Richmond is definitely forward-looking with in relation to to the re-population of downtown and the downtown master plan.