Rail Implementation
Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor
Be careful what you wish for is probably a saying being bandied about all over Washington, D.C., these days. The Federal Railroad Administration knows this one for a fact as it tries to sift through the first round of applications for its $8 billion pot of gold with the October 2nd second-round deadline looming.
This last week America 2050 released a paper assessing, “which potential high-speed rail corridors will have the greatest ridership demand,†based on certain criteria it believes are most appropriate. The paper is a good read and I highly recommend you go check it out. When you’re done, pull out your handy “Vision for High-Speed Rail in America†map (mine is taped up next to my monitor) and do some quick comparisons.
While the president’s vision doesn’t go into detail as much as the America 2050 paper does, you can see a lot of the same corridors match up. And really, they should.
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, rail opponents are looking at it the wrong way. While the United States is vast in size, it is still comparable to Europe on the state level. And looking at the America 2050 paper you can more easily see how our nation is a big country that can easily be broken down into a handful of regions. These regions contain the vast majority of our populace and they are ideal for high-speed rail.
I travel a lot as the editor of Mass Transit magazine. Do I want to take a train to San Diego (well, yes, but that’s besides the point)? No. It makes much more sense to fly there. But I’ve been to Chicago about four times in the last few weeks. I have to drive an hour to catch a train for another hour to get there. That shouldn’t be the case. I should be able to take the train to not only Chicago, but the Twin Cities, St. Louis, Detroit and Indianapolis among others.
Think about people living in your region of the United States. I have friends who live in San Diego. Guess what? They don’t travel to the Midwest that often, but they do travel all over California — and they drive most of the time. How about people who live in Texas. It just seems wrong not to have rail lines connecting Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and points in between. And a great majority of the people living there are never going to Seattle.
We need to get the idea of a nationwide rail system out of our system and do away with misguided and, frankly, outdated comparisons between current high-speed rail plans and Amtrak. The plans on the table are regional in nature and based around our major population centers. Much in the same way France and Spain (to name just two) are enjoying the benefits of high-speed rail implementation, so should those living in the West, Midwest, South and East.
Once we start looking at ourselves in that manner that whole “not in my backyard†idea of commuter rail goes out the window and becomes why haven’t we done this before now.
Be sure and check out our latest issue saluting Mass Transit’s 2009 Top 40 Under 40 class. Congratulations to everyone involved!
And while you’re there, take the time to answer our You Decide! poll. You can’t miss the red, white and blue log on our home page. I’m a firm believer in listening to our readers and for 2010 we’re throwing it to you to let us know who you think should be on our cover. We’ve narrowed down our picks to 12 agencies in the United States and Canada we think have some interesting stuff going on. Now it’s up to you to decide who rises to the top.
Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn page!
September 25th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Fred,
The transit professionals are all rooting for the Administration’s High Speed Rail Program to be a wonderful success. Many of those are concerned though with the appointment of Karen Rae to lead this effort as FRA’s Deputy Administrator. Rae, is neither an engineer or planner. Her background is primarily of bus services (which as a mode is a critical component of mass transit, so this statement is not a criticicism of the bus mode.) She has no rail engineering, operations or planning experience of her own. Karen Rae has a “dubious” past in delivering project promises (Austin Light Rail, Dulles Corridor Project, Rail. she never stayed long enough in Pennsylvania or New York State to deliver any of the “promised” Pennsylvania and New York State Mass Transit Projects.)
The Administration needs to appoint a true high speed rail expert to lead the high speed rail program. A political hack or glad handler is not going to get the job done. We have seen too many of those types before – they all fail.
September 26th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Regional sez Fred. OK, here are two from nutty California:
See John Signor’s “SIERRA CROSSING pages 156 & 157. Kaiser’s 1945 rework for the 1869 line, whittled down by some 30 miles, and knocks 2 hours off passenger and freight times Sacramento-Reno. Summit elevation drops to 6200′, a near 1/4 mile improvement. Electrification taps plenteous hydropower in situ. Annual energy savings amortize cost circa 2040. Cost savings in energy emergency: priceless!
Legacy project #2 (Ears up, Rahm and Arnold?) New TranSierra rail line on US 50 Corridor, Sacramento/Placerville/Carson City/Reno. At Twin Bridges, 5 mile spur tunnel line to South Lake Tahoe. This Tahoe branch meets the water at Camp Richardson, to send waterborne transit to Tahoe City, and rehabbed rail link to Truckee, and Kaiser’s Engineering work.
These two items cut hours off TranSierra rail passage, save significant fuel each trip, and would not be remarkable features in the Alps or in context of China railroad expansion program. America is suffering osteoarthritis of the will… The wherewithal is there, in possession of private individuals and Corporate nest eggs of all sorts. Ask YOUR children, O wealthy patrons of the arts, fine wines, yachts and Corporate jets… Gold bugs.
Or do the Chinese and Arabs, heavy laden with our dollars, come to the rescue? Maybe Norway, (North Sea Capital)looking for long-term cashflow infrastructure in the States? But why not homeboy investors? Shame on wealthy Americans not sensible enough to realize Peak Oil transport breakdown trickles up…