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Flag Stops: Revisiting Old Assumptions
Friday, August 27, 2010
- As the Recovery Act-funded Milwaukee-Madison high-speed (110-mph) rail line (currently undergoing environmental review) becomes a contentious issue in the Wisconsin governor’s race, our friends at the West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition and the Empire Builder Coalition show the arguments of the train opponents to be “based upon incorrect data and misplaced assumptions.” For example, Republican candidate Scott Walker’s claim that “nobody really knows how much [HSR] will cost” completely overlooks the reams of documentation that the project’s sponsors have made public. Walker also chooses not to consider the economic benefits that the trains are sure to provide once they’re running, only the relatively small amount of engineering and construction jobs the project creates directly. Former Republican elected officials are also weighing in favoring the trains.
- The Nashville Tennessean, a daily newspaper whose editorials have been critical of passenger train investment in the past, came out with one defending the newly-proposed high-speed service between Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. The editors wisely caution against passing conclusive judgments on a project that is still in the early planning stages, point to the success of new Amtrak services elsewhere at wooing new riders, and frame the issue as a matter of staying competitive with other states and countries. Let’s hope this more enlightened attitude persists.
- Mobilizing the Region provides good insight into the changing mindset of the “rails-to-trails” movement, which has always had an uneasy alliance with passenger train advocates over the tension between maintaining rail-trails as such and returning them to railroad use. It is encouraging that many rail-trail advocates see trails as part of the transportation network that can coexist side-by-side with active rail lines that will likely host more trains over time. Green-space preservationists should be natural allies of rail advocates in pursuit of a higher quality of life.
- Investigative reporter Bruce Selcraig has a worth-reading examination of the current state of American passenger rail in the respected Miller-McCune Magazine. Selcraig compares Amtrak to the frequent, reliable service that the people of Spain take for granted, even if they don’t live in a major urban area. His conclusion: “Overall, high-speed rail is far more cost effective than its opponents claim. And high-speed rail could become a significant part of America’s transportation mix with far less investment than has been poured into highways and airports.” While he gives somewhat short shrift to the value of incrementally improving existing train service as opposed to going all-out for a “man on the moon” project, Selcraig reiterates, “Perhaps passenger rail will have to be subsidized by the government, not unlike our Social Security, NASA, thousands of libraries and fire departments and all our roads and airports.”
- LCL: Federal Transit Administrator Rogoff helps break ground for a new intermodal train station in Rhode Island that will become the southern terminus of MBTA’s Providence Line commuter trains from Boston. * * * The OneRail Coalition’s latest blog posts highlight jobs being created in the railroad industry. * * * Transit doesn’t just enhance livability in urban and suburban areas. * * * The Transport Politic has a useful map of applications for the next round of federal high-speed rail funding ($2.3 billion). * * * President Eisenhower makes a post-mortem pitch for high-speed rail.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: 2010 elections, amtrak, atlanta, bruce selcraig, chattanooga, editorial, empire builder coalition, high-speed rail, nashville tennessean, rail coalition, rails-to-trails, scott walker, wisconsin, wisconsin governor,Train Investment IS a Deficit Reduction Measure
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Many articles in the press are playing up the opposition of some politicians to spending scarce state funds, or adding to the national debt, to improving passenger train service. Most recently, a New York Times piece cites opposition from some gubernatorial candidates in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida and California. However, if polls showing broad public support for passenger trains reflects the attitude of the electorate, running on an anti-rail platform may not be wise. Yes, the price tag for high(er)-speed rail projects is high, but the price of maintaining the status quo—lost productivity from ever-increasing road and air congestion, escalating health costs from air pollution, and the opportunity cost of forgoing the economic development that modern train service would generate—is much higher.
As economic policy expert Ezra Klein writes in the Washington Post, “[d]elaying a dollar of needed infrastructure repairs is no different than racking up a dollar of debt.” Now is the best time to build major pieces of infrastructure like better railroads and train equipment because construction costs and interest rates are historically low and so many people are in desparate need of a job. The economic output generated through building out needed infrastructure—both direct and indirect—will result in increased tax revenue, leaving us better able to pay down whatever additional debt we incur.
If we use our fiscal deficit as an excuse to continue to ignore our infrastructure deficit, our children and grandchildren—putting up with a lower quality of life than we now enjoy—will look back and ask “What were they thinking?” We already have the vision and the means to build out our rail network so that almost every American community is served by fast, frequent, reliable trains. We just need the political will, and that’s where each of us citizens comes in. Make sure your elected officials and candidates know that investing in this infrasturcture now will pay much greater political dividends than continued inaction.
Side Track
- A Vancouver Sun editorial details just how misguided Canada Border Service is in its insistence that Washington State pay additional hundreds of thousands (more than $20 per passenger per day) in order to keep the popular second Portland-Vancouver Cascades frequency running across the border. The train’s economic benefit to British Columbia far exceeds this cost, and Canada does not charge US authorities for border inspections at road crossings, which far outnumber the 3 existing passenger train crossings. If you live in Canada, please contact Prime Minister Harper and your Member of Parliament and ask them to waive this charge.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: 2010 elections, 2010 governor races, budget shortfall, california, deficit, ezra klein, florida, infrastructure investment, national debt, new york times, ohio, states, wisconsin,The people of New York have Secretary LaHood’s attention
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Everyday train advocates, spurred on by the implications of last week’s election results, have been finding creative ways to broadcast their support for passenger rail.
In today’s Fastlane blog post, Secretary Ray LaHood responded enthusiastically to the outpouring of support shown by New Yorkers for high-speed rail. Residents of the Empire State organized a mass demonstration on the Secretary’s official Facebook page, with messages from people who are eager for the jobs, economic development, and environmental benefits that a reliable, fast, clean high-speed rail service would bring:
If you’ve visited my Facebook page lately, then you’ve probably seen the explosion of notes from people urging Department of Transportation support for high-speed rail in New York State. I don’t know who started it, but the Facebook campaign sure got my attention!
...
Yesterday, Pamela Jardieu-Aderman reminded visitors to my Facebook page that, in the 19th century, New York connected its cities with the Erie Canal, and in the 20th century with the New York Thruway. In the 21st century, she wants New York State to dream big and achieve big with high-speed rail.
NARP is working to make sure this passion isn’t lost: check out our Take Action section for opportunities to tell your elected officials to support President Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure initiative—which would provide significant support for trains—and to tell Wisconsin’s leaders to save the Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison train.
Posted by NARP
Tags: facebook, high speed rail, lahood, new york, wisconsin,Post Editorial: Election = Kill Trains
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Today’s Washington Post editorial, comes to the false conclusion that the election of governors who ran partly in opposition to the use of federal funds to upgrade passenger train service in their states means that the voters don’t want or need trains. This is consistent with their longstanding opposition to public investment in intercity passenger trains that do not serve, well, Washington. The Post also published Robert Samuelson’s scurrilous column two weeks ago and failed to publish any letter in response to it.
We encourage you—even if you don’t live in the Washington metropolitan area, but especially if you do—to write a letter to the Post’s editor. You may submit your letter by email or by postal mail to Letters to the Editor; The Washington Post; 1150 15th Street NW; Washington, DC 20071. I will also write one on NARP’s behalf. Keeping your letter under 150 words is recommended for best chance of publication. My response to the Samuelson column was 207 words.
If you want to document some statistics in your letter, you can do it in a “note to editor” below your letter so that it does not add to your word count, and the newspaper does not have to ask you where you got your numbers (or decide to ignore your letter because of the work involved in checking facts).
—Ross Capon
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: editorial, high-speed rail, john kasich, ohio, passenger trains, scott walker, washington post, wisconsin,Act to Preserve Commuter Benefits Parity & Save the Wisconsin Train
Friday, November 19, 2010
Here are three quick petitions you can sign to bolster support for better train and transit service:
Transportation for America and Commuter Nation are working to defend the Recovery Act’s historic introduction of parity in commutation modes to federal policy. But if Congress lets this provision expire, drivers will be able to receive twice as much in parking benefits from their employers as transit riders will be able to get in checks they can use to pay transit fares. The new policy has resulted in fewer people driving to work and more using trains and buses. Sign this petition to preserve equity for transit commuters.
If you live in Wisconsin (and even if you don’t), you can sign petitions from the Wisconsin Public Interest Group and the Wisconsin Sierra Club urging Governor-elect Scott Walker not to scrap the construction of a higher-speed Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison rail link.
Enjoy the weekend!
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: commuter benefits, higher-speed rail, milwaukee-madison train, rail transit, scott walker, t4america, transit parity, wisconsin,Infrastructure Investment Makes Business Sense
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A 10-minute video segment from PBS’s Need to Know compares the lives of two commuters. One takes Amtrak two days a week between Normal, Illinois, and Chicago, and says he would do so more often if trains were faster and more frequent and reliable—a desire that is likely to be fulfilled thanks in part to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s commitment. His hometown is planning a downtown revitalization around a new train station, making it possible for overnight visitors to stay, eat, shop, be entertained and attend meetings and conventions downtown without needing a car.
The other lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and has to go to Milwaukee frequently for business meetings. While he would rather commute by train, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s decision to reject federal funds for a Madison-Milwaukee train project that was ready to be built means that he will be forced to continue to drive an arduous three-hour round-trip on an Interstate that is often treacherous in the winter.
Kevin Conroy, the latter commuter, says Walker’s move is not an example of how businesspeople make decisions. “[Walker] turned away an investment in transportation between Wisconsin’s two biggest cities over a 90-second political add,” Conroy says, obviously frustrated. He’s not the only one at a disadvantage—scores of railcar manufacturing jobs and railroad construction jobs will not be coming to Wisconsin.
This tale of two travelers—and two governors—centers on this question: Do you generate economic development by cutting spending or by investing in the infrastructure that keeps the economy, and people, moving?
Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, chicago-st louis, governors, illinois, infrastructure investment, milwaukee-madison, passenger rail, pat quinn, pbs, scott walker, wisconsin,Tunneling under Wisconsin, and other foolish news
Friday, April 01, 2011
Local blog OnMilwaukee.com reports that, to get around Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s opposition to fedeal funding for passenger trains west of Milwaukee, the states of Minnesota and Illinois are cooperating to build a rail tunnel under Wisconsin to connect Chicago with the Twin Cities:
“It’s never been done before, that’s for sure,” said Rolf Olgassen, the project’s chief engineer in Eden Prairie. “Our inspiration is the Chunnel between England and France, but this is far more complex.”
It’s complex because unlike the Channel Tunnel, which is 32 miles long and a mere 150 feet under the seabed, this system will span approximately 363 miles and will sit 2,100 feet below the surface.
The $3 billion project will be financed entirely with the federal funds that Wisconsin and Florida returned to the government, but Minnesota will keep all the revenue from its riders. When completed, the trip will take two hours, and Olgassen says Wisconsinites will barely know the train has gone under them.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: airlines, amtrak, april fools, chicago, passenger trains, scott walker, wisconsin,Ride a Train, Catch a Show
Thursday, October 27, 2011
 |
| Image: Milwaukee Intermodal Station (via Travel Wisconsin) |
So the A.V. Club—a music and entertainment website affiliated with everyone’s favorite satirical newspaper, The Onion—has announced a monthly contest to send readers to concerts via Amtrak’s Chicago to Milwaukee service, the Hiawatha:
Each month, The Onion and The A.V. Club will send one winner and a friend to a concert in Milwaukee, along with a pair of round-trip Amtrak Hiawatha tickets. This month, you can catch Mates of State at Turner Hall on Saturday, Nov. 19. E-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with “Mil Amtrak Cooper” in the subject line to enter to win.
So this contest won’t have much relevance to you if you don’t live in Chicago. But this is a cool idea that I don’t think you would have seen as little as 10 years ago. The fact that a website geared towards young people is pushing travel by train should be a heartening note for all the men and women who have spent decades working to preserve and expand the rail system in the face of attacks.
Posted by NARP
Tags: a.v. club, amtrak, chicago, hiawatha, wisconsin,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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