Posted by Tina
If you’re a high-speed rail fan you might want to read the following article before climbing aboard this tax and spend train wreck! President Obama has wants this done even with the debt soaring and even though it will never be a self sustaining venture. Obama has an excuse for going ahead with this excessive frivolity, albeit a lame one. He doesn’t really understand business, the profit motive, or even basic economic principles. He’s also a died in the wool big government guy. Types like our very own ex-governator Awnuld should know better, however, and he too supports high speed rail…he knows about business and has no excuse. Maybe it’s just that he’s lived the high life for too long and can’t remember what it’s like to be an average American taxpayer.
“All Aboard the T-Rex Express,” by John Steele Gordon – “Contentions”, Commentary Magazine
President Obama is going to call for spending $53 billion over the next six years on high-speed railroads between major cities, with $8 billion in the 2012 budget. He touted the idea in the State of the Union and, indeed, has been pushing it since he took office.
But high-speed rail is exactly what we don’t need to spend money on, for reasons Robert J. Samuelson explained with his usual clarity a year and a half ago. The countries that have bullet trains also have: (1) high population density — Japan has 10 times the number of people per square mile as the U.S., and France three times; (2) very high gas prices; (3) unitary governments that don’t have to fear endless court battles over environmental issues, etc.; and (4) relatively small national territories. France, the largest country in Western Europe, is smaller than Texas.
Even in the areas where bullet trains might make sense from a population-density standpoint, such as the Boston-New York-Washington corridor, they would make no sense from an economic one. Bullet trains cannot run on regular tracks, which Amtrak’s Acela trains on this route do. They need dedicated, carefully engineered lines that might well run $50 million a mile to construct. That would be $20 billion for construction alone (ignoring minor matters such as tunnels under the Hudson River). If they sold 10 million tickets a year on that line, they would have to charge $100 per ticket just to cover the interest on the construction costs. Then there are the land-acquisition costs (which would be huge in this part of the country), the cost of the rolling stock, fuel costs, maintenance costs, labor costs, and so on. Unsubsidized, it would probably be cheaper for a party of six to charter a jet to fly from Boston to Washington than to take the bullet train.
This scheme also creates a threat to America’s successful rail freight business…a success story that could act as a ‘teaching moment” for an administration in search of common sense approaches to business:
“High speed Railroading” – The Economist
America’s freight railways are one of the unsung transport successes of the past 30 years. They are universally recognised in the industry as the best in the world.
Their good run started with deregulation at the end of Jimmy Carter’s administration. Two years after the liberalisation of aviation gave rise to budget carriers and cheap fares, the freeing of rail freight, under the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, started a wave of consolidation and improvement. Staggers gave railways freedom to charge market rates, enter confidential contracts with shippers and run trains as they liked. They could close passenger and branch lines, as long as they preserved access for Amtrak services. They were allowed to sell lossmaking lines to new short-haul railroads. Regulation of freight rates by the Interstate Commerce Commission was removed for most cargoes, provided they could go by road.
Before deregulation America’s railways were going bust. The return on capital fell from a meagre 4.1% in the 1940s to less than 3% in the 1960s. In 1970 the collapse of the giant Penn Central caused a huge shock, including a financial crisis. By 1980 a fifth of rail mileage was owned by bankrupt firms. Rail’s share of intercity freight had slumped to 35% from 75% in the 1920s. Tracks were neglected and fell into disrepair, leading to a downward spiral of speed restrictions and deteriorating service. The term “standing derailment” was coined to describe the toppling-over of stationary freight wagons when the track gave way beneath their wheels.
High Speed…is it a good idea? Definitely NOT!
But, but…it’s so cool!
Yes…AND IT’S VERY EXPENSIVE! It will cost US taxpayers billions in construction costs, maintenance, and subsidies…and those subsidies will go on FOREVER!
Those who do not understand the profit motive please notice that when a venture…no matter how cool it is…doesn’t make a profit it becomes a money pit requiring constant infusions of cash to survive. That leads to ever greater debt and higher taxes for all Americans, a very stupid idea.
I completely agree with you. This has to be another of his dumbest of dumb ideas.
The first thing I thought of is where the heck are they going to put the tracks. You cant have a bullet train on the same track as the others. So, where are they going to put it? If one was put here in Chico, it couldnt go through the down town area, so that leaves our orchard and farmland.
Wasn’t there a movie out recently about a run-away train? I’m sure it was saved at the last minute by a hero. Hopefully, the same will happen here.
I used to live in Sacramento. One summer I had a job selling ice cream from a cart Downtown, right on L Street. The light rail train tracks came within 5 feet of the sidewalk, and they were a pedestrian hazard, I watched people trip over them all day long for months. And when the train would come, I would just turn my back to it and hold my breath – it blew a stinking wind, along with dust and trash, out from under itself. I was also afraid for my life – it went by so fast, it made my cart rattle. And of course, it just brought car traffic to a dead stop.
That train still only runs a tiny loop through the central core, carrying, mostly, state workers. I never rode it, because aside from being very expensive, it only stopped at a few selected sites. It cost millions, even back in the 80’s. I think the main purpose was to take some of the pressure off their parking inventory (keep state workers from taking up parking spaces all day). The state workers didn’t like riding the Regional Transit buses because they are dirty, unreliable, and full of homeless people just trying to get out of the weather. The light rail costs $6 a day to ride – hardly affordable to a homeless person.
So, this train is just another one of these modern marvels that has no practical value, a toy for rich people. You know Jerry Brown is always trying to drag us kicking and screaming out of the Stone Age, whether it’s good for us or not.
Juanita that was a very compelling story. What was even better than your message was your delivery and this is not the first time. It has the feeling of an excerpt from a first rate novel, “I would just turn my back to it and hold my breath – it blew a stinking wind, along with dust and trash, out from under itself” Have you ever considered taking a writing class at the university? It might bring out that not-so-hidden talent and take you in whole new direction. I may not be much of a writer, but I know talent when I see it and I encourage you to develop it.
Juanita, I was thinking the same about your writing, good job.