Cross-posted from: here
Some columns and rantings out there are so bad, there aren’t enough hours in the day to address all their crazy “facts” and the conclusions they draw from them. It’s probably important to say SOMETHING about Robert Samuelson’s Washington Post column, and let others pick up other pieces. After all, with the Transportation Reauthorization funding bill coming up soon, along with Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood’s vision for a high-speed rail system, it’s important the funds are there. If you’d like an explanation of why mass transit beats roads at the state and local level, see my op-ed from last January on stimulus transportation spending.
A large chunk of Samuelson’s argument is devoted to how we’ve poured $35 billion dollars worth of subsidies into Amtrak since 1971. Hence all high-speed rail will be like amtrak and fail. If I pull out a calculator, that’s less than a billion dollars a year on average. Cry me a river.
Now, lets take a look by comparison at the costs of maintaining the nation’s existing roads and bridges. Four years ago, the Department of Transportation said they needed $500 billion dollars over 6 years to just maintain them. No need to pull out the calculator on that one. According to the Transportation National Journal, the difference between what our gas tax revenues bring in versus the expenditures needed for our road and bridge upkeep is $240 billion dollars ANNUALLY through 2020. By that math, it would take over 240 similar Amtrak systems to cost us as much in upkeep as the current highway system.
Now, unlike Samuelson, I’m going to be fair. I’m not trying to compare one high-speed rail system to our nation’s entire highway system. I’m simply showing that infrastructure, believe it or not, costs money to upkeep. Rail or road. Right now, the upkeep of Federal road+bridge infrastructure is costing us dearly, and if you’re pleased with gridlock and traffic congestion on the highway you commute on, raise your hand…..*tumbleweed blows in the wind*.
So, as our population increases, traffic worsens, peak oil hits, gas becomes obscenely expensive, and we try to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions….would you be happier if the Federal government was putting down more asphalt, or high-speed rail?
I couldn’t agree more with the Matt’s conclusion regarding Mr. Samuelson’s colum on high speed rail. However, in any discussion we can’t leave out the airline industry who subsidies command over $16 billion in FY 2009. The entire industry was built on the generousity of Uncle Sam and State and local public support.
The former Senator from South Carolina, Fritz Hollings rightly pointed out,” no passenger rail service in the world makes money.” In fact NO form of intercity transport makes money if you calculate all the costs the same way we calculate the costs of passenger trains. Warren Buffet remarked to the Chicago Tribune on October 21, 2001 that,” the airline business from the time of the Wright brothers has made zero money.” That from America’s leading investor. The failure of airlines to turn a sustained profit in their 80 odd years of existence speaks volumes about passenger rails ability to do so.
Since 1946 we have paid for airport development that calculated would cost over $1 trillion to replace yet we scream about $1.5 billion in Amtrak subsidy. Highways too are more than dependent on federal generosity. The Center for Technology Assessment stated in late 2001 that if we front-loaded the costs for each time we filled up at the pump the price of gas would be between $5 and $15 per gallon. Yet subsidies to oil producers guarantee the falsehood of cheap gasoline. Last year as prices hit $4 or more per gallon Americans were in a state of panic. Yet, a sensible passenger rail system would have alleviated some of this frustration and provided much needed relief to travelers.
So I applaud area lawmakers for at least beginning to realize that rail is a viable alternative to the fly/drive mentality. Expanded rail service would mean not only hassle free alternatives for the traveling public, but safe, high speed interregional connections to many small and medium size communities that now have little in the way of public transportation. Many Americans traveling in Europe already utilize rail services in reaching urban centers directly from major air terminals. However, our little Sammy continues to foster the idea of our mutually exculsive transportation policies that have held ssway since World War 2.
The response to your blog is deafening!