Florida still struggling for rail options May 30, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in Passenger Rail Politics, United States High Speed Rail.Tags: commuter rail, florida, florida high speed rail, high speed rail, hsr, jeb bush
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A recent article in the Herald Tribune discusses Florida’s troubled history with high speed rail. The article is a good example of how DOT’s are wont to continue down the usual path of highways, highways, highways, which inevitably leads to more traffic, and how shortsighted politicians are unwilling to take the initiative to break this vicious cycle. What got my blood boiling is how former Gov. Jeb Bush effectively ignored a popular mandate to institute high speed rail in the state:
For more than 30 years, lawmakers and state officials have ordered studies proposing a passenger system to connect cities, including a 1984 report that said it was a necessity for the 21st century. Not one shovel has hit the dirt.
In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment mandating a high-speed rail system in the state. But Gov. Jeb Bush led a charge to veto the amendment in 2004, which effectively killed the high-speed rail authority as well.
The public desire for HSR is there. The challenge for politicians is to listen to and take a far sighted estimate of our transportation system rather than blindly obeying the dictates of the air and auto industries. Florida in particular could benefit from commuter and intercity rail, with its large elderly population who can’t (or at least shouldn’t) be driving, as well as its multitude of tourist destinations. Fortunately for the state, the article indicates that many seem to be gravitating again towards rail due to today’s usual impetus of sky high fuel prices.
As airlines buckle, leading Democrats look to rail May 29, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in Passenger Rail Politics, United States High Speed Rail.Tags: bruce reed, democrats, high speed rail, hsr
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2008 hasn’t been a good year for airlines. And it’s beginning to set in with the public and the media that these artificially cheap local flights are soon going to be a thing of the past. Luckily, more and more policymakers are beginning to see the steps America has to take if it doesn’t want to be left behind, and initiatives such as the new Amtrak authorization bill are a good start.
In a column for Newsday, Democratic strategists Bruce Reed and Paul Weinstein Jr. have taken this thinking to its logical conclusion, advocating high speed rail as an efficient and environmentally sustainable alternative to continued overuse of air travel.
Today, however, with the cost of energy skyrocketing, and our air-travel system reaching its limits, demand for rail is outpacing supply.
That’s why the next president and the new Congress should commit to building five new high-speed rail corridors in the next 10 years. The corridors would be selected based on three key criteria: geography (the flatter the terrain, the faster the train); a high probability of use (densely populated corridors with significant levels of highway and airborne traffic); and a commitment by the private sector, states and localities to share in the cost of construction. Wherever possible, the high-speed rail corridors should connect to major air hubs.
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As for energy savings, even the most conservative studies give trains an advantage of 4 to 1 over cars and airplanes. According to studies done in Japan, high-speed trains produce one-tenth the carbon-dioxide emissions of airplanes
What’s significant about this is that Reed is president of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group in the Democratic Party most closely associated with former President Bill Clinton and the “New Democrats.” This just goes to show that in this age of high oil prices and concern about carbon emissions, American bullet trains aren’t just for the hardcore rail nuts anymore, especially considering the bi-partisan support behind the Amtrak funding bill.
However, their proposals for funding these projects seems conservative, including “carbon-offset purchases; a 4.3-cent diesel gas tax on the railroad industry that would raise about $200 million a year; ticket surcharges; and/or matching contributions from states served by the new rail lines.” I hate to say it, but if the feds want a good rail network, they’re going to have to pay for it. States should certainly contribute as well, but using carbon offsets or a piddly and burdensome rail diesel tax is just wishful thinking. Funding aside though, getting these moderate strategists behind HSR can’t possibly be a bad thing.
Mixed news about Amtrak May 27, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in Amtrak.Tags: american financial group, Amtrak, nec, northeast corridor
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Although the House version of a funding bill that would increase money for both Amtrak and high speed rail has recently passed committee, the organization has been troubled by other issues this week.
First, the “American Financial Group,” an owner of Amtrak shares, has sued the company, claiming that it has failed to follow a congressional order to buy back its stock from them at a reasonable price and has made itself “worthless” through its policies. I won’t pretend to be a stock expert or anything close, but considering its resources, I find it hard to blame Amtrak for its “worthlessness.” If anyone was responsible for Amtrak’s woes, all signs point to the Bush administration’s shameful rail policy.
In news that’s of more concern to Amtrak riders, transportation advocate James P. RePass points out that Amtrak will be closing the Northeast Corridor from New Haven to Boston on June 14-17 for repairs. What’s distressing about this, he says, is that the company is not providing buses or any other alternatives for its passengers and has failed to contact the governors of the affected states. He corrently points out that this is not what Amtrak or rail needs right now, and I agree. A PR disaster in the middle of the busy summer months do not happy riders (or voters) make.
Even oil baron countries working on high speed rail May 27, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in International High Speed Rail.Tags: congestion, dubai, high speed rail, hsr, uae
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Though American drivers may be feeling the pressure of high fuel prices, in the oil exporting Gulf countries, gas is still stupendously cheap due to government subsidies (yes, subsidies). Hence it’s not surprising to hear that cities like Dubai are plagued with automobile congestion issues. Yet apparently planners in the UAE are realizing that just building more roads isn’t going to solve this issue. They’ve committed to building not just a high speed rail network (beginning with a connection between Abu Dhabi and Dubai), but also light rail and metro systems in the two cities.
Of course, the UAE is a much smaller country than the United States, but it’s disheartening to see that even such an oil addicted nation is pulling ahead of us in terms of rail infrastructure development, both on the regional and national level.
Spanish airlines feeling the crunch due to high speed rail May 26, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in International High Speed Rail, Travel Woes.Tags: airlines, bullet trains, high speed rail, hsr, spain
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The AFP reports that Spain’s extensive development of its high speed rail network is putting the crunch on short-distance air carriers. The article contains a number of facts about Spain’s bullet trains that should make anyone who’s ever had to sit on a crowded airplane drool:
The government plans to have 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) of high-speed railway track in place by 2020, meaning 90 percent of Spain’s population will live less than 50 kilometres from a bullet train station.
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The high-speed AVE trains, which are fitted with video and music players and chairs that can swivel in the direction of travel, can make the 660-kilometre trip between Madrid and Barcelona in about two and a half hours.
Passengers say bullet trains have more roomier and comfortable seats than planes, faster check-in times and have the advantage of arriving and departing from downtown cores.
If you can get over the sad fact that Spain’s policy is light years ahead of anything Congress could even dream of, there’s plenty of good news to be found for American HSR. Primarily, it proves that people want and will use high speed rail. That’s not going to come as a surprise to anyone reading this blog, but it seems to be a lesson that politicians in California and Washington have yet to pick up on.
And while news like this will certainly strike fear into the hearts of the airlines, this could actually be good for them in the long run. The article says that the area where HSR is seriously competing are the trips that would take 3 hours or less. These are the distances that never should have been ceded to the air industry in the first place. And allowing these routes to fall to high speed rail will free up space at our crowded airports, hopefully alleviating problems with delays and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction on the long haul flights that airlines should be paying attention to.
California already gearing up for HSR battle May 21, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in United States High Speed Rail.Tags: bullet train, california, california high speed rail, calpirg, high speed rail
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Although the state bond measure that would approve the initial $9 billion in funding for California’s proposed high speed rail corridor won’t be appearing on the ballot until this November, rail advocates and other groups are already preparing for a PR battle in the state. Their opponents will be the usual suspects: the automotive industry, the airlines, sprawl developers… all the groups that have kept America’s attitude toward transportation backwards for decades. They’ll be trying to turn the public’s misconceptions about HSR and funding against the project, and, if history teaches us anything, their war chest is going to considerable. Steve Blackledge of CalPIRG, a California public interest group, has written an eloquent call to arms for the project:
I’ll bet dollars to donuts our opponents will buy television time and hire consultants to meet with newspaper editors, do TV and radio appearances and roll out propaganda campaigns to stop high-speed rail, especially in the fall, when there will be a bond measure on the ballot.
What can we do to counter that onslaught? What we do best. Have face-to-face conversations with tens of thousands of Californians to cut through the hype and give them the facts about the benefits of high-speed rail. We estimate that we have the capacity to talk to 100,000 Californians face-to-face this summer about the high-speed rail project.
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Right now more than half of Californians don’t know about the high-speed rail project. They don’t know that it will slash pollution, reduce traffic (reducing up to 92 million cars trips in California per year), and they don’t know it will cost less than the highway and airport expansions we’ll need without it. But if we let our opposition tell their side of the story first Californians may never hear the full story.
Companies that make a lot of money on bigger highways and airports stand to lose a lot from high-speed rail. Several years ago Southwest Airlines helped kill a similar high-speed rail proposal in Texas.
Robert Cruickshank has a similarly well-written deconstruction of a typical anti-HSR sentiment, including funding concerns, on his California High Speed Rail blog. It’s well worth a read.
This project isn’t just important for California; if built, it will obviously serve as a model for similar systems throughout the country. A loss in the country’s most progressive state, in this period of surging fuel prices would be devastating to American rail.
House spices up Amtrak reauthorization proposal with HSR and.. hints of privatization? May 18, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, United States High Speed Rail.Tags: Amtrak, high speed rail, hr 6003, hsr, nec
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Pat mentioned H.R. 6003 while discussing Representative Boozman’s shifting rail policy, but this year’s Amtrak reauthorization bill is deserving of discussion in its own right. On the positive side, it retains many of the positive aspects of its companion Senate bill passed overwhelmingly last fall: it increases Amtrak’s funding and removes the ridiculous self-sufficiency requirement stipulated in earlier years.
However, the legislation diverges from its earlier counterpart in its emphasis on high speed rail. While this is a refreshing development, the bill sidesteps Amtrak in its sections pertaining to HSR, instead outlining grants for state rail projects and allowing for private HSR proposals along existing corridors.
Critics have, probably rightfully, called foul on this move, including unions and Amtrak chief Alex Kummant. Kummant points out that the 2 hour New York to DC objective that the government would seek private bids on isn’t that much of an improvement over the 2.5 hours offered by Amtrak’s current lines. He has a good quote about instead expanding NEC-style infrastructure to the rest of the country (where lower densities would make HSR building less expensive):
“Could we go south to Atlanta (from Washington)?… Could we develop a dozen 110-mile-an-hour corridors and, by the way, with the pocket change left over, rebuild every station, create parking, intermodal bus connections, transit connections?”
I’m inclined to agree with Kummant’s point. Amtrak is a national service, and the government needs to realize that the rest of the country deserves to have fast rail transportation every bit as much as the Northeast does. However, it’s important to note that the bill only requires the government to take these private bids. Further action would require more molasses-quick action from Congress.
Furthermore, there’s nothing all that radical about freeing up proposals for state HSR initiatives. As any regular reader of this blog could tell you, they’re happening anyway. The important thing is to get them built, and for legislators to realize how, even with these new projects, the US lags terribly behind other industrialized countries in terms of high speed rail. The rhetoric around this bill would seem to at least indicate that it’s dawning on them.
So in the end, the passage of this bill would be a win for passenger rail. Not because of the tentative privatization openings, but because of increased funding for both Amtrak and separate HSR projects. We can hope that it signals more [positive] legislative attention for our rail network. But then, it will have to get across our famous rail-advocate president’s desk first.
Hell freezes over! Boozman backs Amtrak and HSR May 15, 2008
Posted by patlynch in Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, United States High Speed Rail.add a comment
It was only last year that Arkansas Republican Representative John Boozman drew some attention to himself by suggesting that Amtrak caused pollution. I have an extensive interview with him posted on my Lynch at Large blog from that episode. It’s the old Blogspot blog, so scroll down when you get there. It is in two parts.
Well, here is the latest item passed along from the nation’s capitol.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I enthusiastically support this resolution recognizing National Train Day. The ceremonial golden spike hammered on May 10, 1869, marked the completion of one of this Nation’s greatest engineering masterpieces, and marked the birth of what would become the greatest rail network in the world.
The United States now has 140,000 miles of railroads, making up the transportation backbone of this Nation. These railroads are environmentally friendly, producing significantly less pollution than competing modes of transit. In fact, a train can haul one ton of freight 436 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel, and is three times cleaner than a truck. Furthermore, trains help alleviate congestion on our crowded highways. One train can take 280 trucks off the road.
The recently introduced Amtrak reauthorization, H.R. 6003, will make significant enhancements to Amtrak’s growing business. The legislation will give Amtrak the funding it needs to continue improving its service while also creating innovative programs to enhance passenger rail service.
The State grants provision in the bill will give a greater say in how Federal funding is utilized for capital projects, and a private operator pilot program will increase innovation and competition in passenger rail service.
Additionally, H.R. 6003 includes a plan to create public-private partnerships to construct true high speed rail corridors all over the Nation. High-speed rail promises safe, fast and convenient service, all the while helping to alleviate aviation and highway congestion. I urge passage of H. Res. 1176.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I also want to urge adoption of this resolution. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida and the ranking member, Mr. Shuster, for bringing it forward. I also want to compliment them and their staffs for the hard work that they are pursuing now on the Amtrak reauthorization.
Again, I urge adoption.
Maglev company closes doors, returns to parent corporations May 11, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in International High Speed Rail.Tags: high speed rail, maglev, transrapid
3 comments
Siemens and Thyssencrup have announced that they are dissolving their joint maglev technology company, Transrapid. Transrapid’s system was used to build Shanghai’s 20 mile airport train, an oft-cited example of a functioning commercial maglev train.
The decision on Thursday, May 8, came after the city of Munich decided in March to abandon plans for a 37-kilometer (23-mile) line linking the city center with the airport.
Despite the dissolution of the company, “the core competencies of the Transrapid technology” would remain in the possession of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, they said.
The companies said they remained dedicated to promoting the system and were continuing talks with possible customers in China and the United States.
Though the article makes it clear that Transrapid’s assets will be reabsorbed by the parents companies, who will continue to promote the technology, this has to be something of a blow to maglev proponents.
A number of readers of this blog have argued that more conventional high speed rail technology is imminently more practical and affordable, despite lacking that ‘ooh.. ahhh’ factor of magnetic levitation trains. Most conventional HSR stock is capable of running at reduced speeds on old tracks, and there is more competition and real-world precedent for fast steel wheels. Despite this, maglev has it own advantages. Trains run more silently, have fewer moving parts, and perhaps most importantly, capture the public’s attention in a country where no one seems to give passenger rail a second thought. Perhaps standard HSR is more practical for America’s new rail projects, but it pains me to see a competitive and interesting technology such as this flounder.
Gas tax holiday reaction signals good news for rail transit May 7, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy.Tags: carper, clinton, gas tax holiday, mcain, obama, passenger rail, rail, trains
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This past week has seen quite a political hubbub arise over proposals by presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton to suspend the federal gasoline tax during the summer period from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That such a short sighted idea could arise from a hotly contested election race shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but what is shocking (and refreshing) is the cool reception this vote-pandering policy is receiving from the public, politicians, and experts.
Hopefully this signals that the country as a whole is looking beyond cheap gas and endless pavement to a more varied transit future. People realize that one summer of tax breaks isn’t going to dampen the energy crunch in the long-term, and that the $30 they save may not be much to them, but the $10 billion it contributes to the federal budget could help build these more efficient alternatives. And fortunately, this has gotten people talking about passenger rail. This not only includes Barack Obama, the only major candidate not supporting the tax holiday, but also Delaware senator Thomas Carper. McCain has even had to awkwardly backpeddle on the issue, clarifying that this is not a permanent fix but only “a little bit of a break.”
Perhaps this will get lawmakers thinking about putting that money to a better use than simply building more highways. Just a sliver of that $10 billion could double Amtrak’s budget and, in doing so, provide a service to taxpayers that could actually help remedy the escalating cost of travel. Is that going to happen? Probably not, but anything that gets voters (and candidates) thinking about rail travel as a sustainble alternative is a step in the right direction.
Obama talks up high speed rail, Amtrak May 3, 2008
Posted by Logan Nash in Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, United States High Speed Rail.Tags: Amtrak, high speed rail, obama
18 comments
Some interesting news for those who are wondering how passenger rail transit will be playing into this year’s presidential race. During a lunch/political event with a family in Beech Grove, Indiana Obama lamented America’s lack of high-speed rail in comparison to other industrialized countries. Further, he supported the idea of implementing high-speed rail between the major Midwestern cities… “Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis.” To my chagrin, he forgot Minneapolis/St. Paul, but I’m willing to overlook that. If you can set aside the cynicism generally necessary when hearing campaign promises such as this, it’s a pretty encouraging read.
On HSR in the Midwest:
“The irony is with the gas prices what they are, we should be expanding rail service. One of the things I have been talking bout for awhile is high speed rail connecting all of these Midwest cities – Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis. They are not that far away from each other. Because of how big of a hassle airlines are now. There are a lot of people if they had the choice, it takes you just about as much time if you had high speed rail to go the airport, park, take your shoes off.”
On the advantages of rail and America’s lag in HSR implementation:
“This is something that we should be talking about a lot more,” Obama said. “We are going to be having a lot of conversations this summer about gas prices. And it is a perfect time to start talk about why we don’t’ have better rail service. We are the only advanced country in the world that doesn’t have high speed rail. We just don’t’ have it. And it works on the Northeast corridor. They would rather go from New York to Washington by train than they would by plane. It is a lot more reliable and it is a good way for us to start reducing how much gas we are using. It is a good story to tell.”
And of course, Obama’s policy compares very favorably to McCain’s staunch anti-rail position.
patlynch
Logan Nash
