Saturday, July 18, 2009
Another reason libertarians should like rail it can be privatized
There's another reason why conservatives and libertarians should like rail. If government transportation systems get privatized in the future and many of them probably will thanks to the state of the economy it'll be a lot easier to find private buyers and operators for rail lines than highways. Private freight railroads in the US and some high speed rail lines in Japan make money. Private companies are anxious to partner with local governments building rail transit systems. The reason for this is simple, it's easy to charge people using rail for the privilege and hard to charge highway users. Yes there are toll roads but they're not common and generally only work where no other road is available. Few private entities are lining to up to operate highways, and I doubt it'll be possible to sell off most highways. Libertarians then should favor the transportation system that can be turned over to private enterprise not the transportation system created for socialists by socialists namely highways.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Organizations working for High Speed Rail
• The Federal Railroad Administration
The federal agency that oversees railroads in the United States. This is the agency in charge of the federal high speed rail program. They’re the ones who’ll hand out the $8-15 billion in High Speed Rail funding that President Obama has asked for. The nine High Speed Rail Corridors you’ve heard so much about are designated by the FRA. Judging from the materials on its website the FRA has done a lot of work on High Speed Rail but no real planning. Sadly, FRA’s High Speed Rail plans look more like responses to political pressure than a strategy for high speed rail. For example, FRA recently designated the I-15 route between Las Vegas and LA a high speed rail corridor, largely because high speed rail between Lalaland and Vegas is a pet project of US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
• The California High Speed Rail Authority. www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov
The California state agency responsible for building high speed rail in the Golden
State. This group is the closest to actually building high speed rail, they have an excellent plan, $8 billion in bond funding from the state of California and popular support. This agency put the successful high speed rail initiative on the ballot in California in 2008. Since California is a Democratic bastion and the Democrats control Congress heaps of federal cash may soon be flowing to this authority. Barring bad luck the CHSRA should have a High Speed Rail line up and running in California by 2020 if not sooner. Preliminary survey and design work for the rail lines has already begun. Some press reports indicate that work on high speed rail lines in the San Joaquin Valley could begin as early as 2011.
• Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation, http://www.thsrtc.com/
A consortium of city, town and county governments and universities working to build the Texas T-Bone (love that name) a high speed rail line that would connect Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Dallas and Fort Worth. The support this group has is unclear and Texas has a history of pie in the sky High Speed Rail schemes. There seems to be some support in the State Legislature. It should be noted that the Texas T-Bone planned outlined on their website conflicts with the two High Speed Rail Corridors in Texas on the FRA’s map. Publishes a newsletter called Fast Forward.
• Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, www.rockymountainrail.org
Like the THSRTC this is a consortium of local governments and Transit Agencies studying the possibility of High Speed Rail in Colorado. RMRA is working to get the area along Interstate 25 along the Front Range which includes Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins and the area along I-70 between Denver and Glenwood Springs designated High Speed Rail Corridors. This group grew out of opponents of I-70 expansion plans to increase the highway’s capacity to carry skiers to the slopes. The website and the plans are impressive. The RMRA has posted some impressive rail plans on its website. These include improvements to existing rail lines to restore commuter rail between the cities on Colorado’s Front Range. RMRA has garnered some state funds and the governors of Texas, Colorado and New Mexico are campaigning to have I-25 from El Paso to Denver designated a high speed rail corridor in order to get more federal funds.
• Amtrak www.amtrak.com
The government owned corporation that provides intercity passenger rail service in the lower 48 states. Amtrak currently operates the Acela Express America’s only High Speed Train, some electric trains in the Northeast and some fast passenger trains. No plans for future High Speed Rail or High Speed Rail expansion are posted on Amtrak’s website. Outside the Northeast Corridor many of Amtrak’s diesel electric passenger trains operate at slower speeds than trains operated by private railroads that preceeded them. This is so because Amtrak has to use track owned by various private freight railroads where speed is restricted. Amtrak only owns the Northeast Corridor and hasn’t even gotten enough money from Congress to upgrade that route to conditions necessary for high speed rail. It must be noted that the Acela Express is as technologically advanced as any European or Asian High Speed train so Amtrak would probably be the operator of any future High Speed Rail systems built in the US.
• Midwest High Speed Rail Association http://www.midwesthsr.org
This is an organization of private citizens whose major focus seems to be upgrading and expanding passenger rail service in Illinois. They do have an impressive website and some very good and specific plans hopefully this could be a model for future grass roots rail lobbying efforts in the US.
• Midwest Interstate Passenger Commission http://www.miprc.org
This group represents nine state governments in the Midwest that are working with
Amtrak to expand and improve passenger rail service in the Midwest. The Commission’s main focus seems to be upgrading Amtrak diesel service but its website contains pictures of Acela and other electric High Speed Trains. No specific rail plans are presented on the site. Nine states are represented Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio. A map on the group’s website shows proposed rail lines connecting Midwestern cities as part of a Midwestern Rail Initiative. No specifics about technology are provided. Other than holding a yearly meeting of state government officials it’s not clear what this group is doing. This group laid out the proposed Chicago Rail hub President Obama mentioned in his speech about High Speed Rail on April 17.
• DesertXpress www.desertxpress.com
DesertXpress is a private group working to build a dedicated high speed passenger rail line between Victorville, California and Las Vegas running along I-15 . This group has an impressive website and claims to have invested $25 million in their plans. Their route was recently designated a federal High Speed Rail Corridor. The website indicates that they want to use off the shelf technology for trains running on track along I-15 it mentions both diesel and EMU technology that would run at 150 MPH. The idea behind this scheme is to reduce congestion on highways but because the train would stop at Victorville about 100 miles east of LA on I-15 it would increase congestion because people would have to drive the already congested I-15 to Victorville. The sensible expedient of building a connection between DesertXpress and the proposed California High Speed Rail Line at San Bernardino is not mentioned. Whether drivers who are already half way to Vegas would be willing to stop and get on a train is a good question to ask. It must be noted that this group’s website does include a proposed future connection to the California High Speed Rail Authority’s rail line at Palmdale which would provide a rail connection to LA, Bakersfield, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, the Bay Area and Sacramento. The CHSRA has announced that it has no plans to spend federal High Speed Rail funds on a train to Vegas. This group is apparently not related the schemes to build a maglev line been LA and Vegas. Interestingly enough there appear to be no active websites for organizations working on a maglev train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The federal agency that oversees railroads in the United States. This is the agency in charge of the federal high speed rail program. They’re the ones who’ll hand out the $8-15 billion in High Speed Rail funding that President Obama has asked for. The nine High Speed Rail Corridors you’ve heard so much about are designated by the FRA. Judging from the materials on its website the FRA has done a lot of work on High Speed Rail but no real planning. Sadly, FRA’s High Speed Rail plans look more like responses to political pressure than a strategy for high speed rail. For example, FRA recently designated the I-15 route between Las Vegas and LA a high speed rail corridor, largely because high speed rail between Lalaland and Vegas is a pet project of US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
• The California High Speed Rail Authority. www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov
The California state agency responsible for building high speed rail in the Golden
State. This group is the closest to actually building high speed rail, they have an excellent plan, $8 billion in bond funding from the state of California and popular support. This agency put the successful high speed rail initiative on the ballot in California in 2008. Since California is a Democratic bastion and the Democrats control Congress heaps of federal cash may soon be flowing to this authority. Barring bad luck the CHSRA should have a High Speed Rail line up and running in California by 2020 if not sooner. Preliminary survey and design work for the rail lines has already begun. Some press reports indicate that work on high speed rail lines in the San Joaquin Valley could begin as early as 2011.
• Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation, http://www.thsrtc.com/
A consortium of city, town and county governments and universities working to build the Texas T-Bone (love that name) a high speed rail line that would connect Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Dallas and Fort Worth. The support this group has is unclear and Texas has a history of pie in the sky High Speed Rail schemes. There seems to be some support in the State Legislature. It should be noted that the Texas T-Bone planned outlined on their website conflicts with the two High Speed Rail Corridors in Texas on the FRA’s map. Publishes a newsletter called Fast Forward.
• Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, www.rockymountainrail.org
Like the THSRTC this is a consortium of local governments and Transit Agencies studying the possibility of High Speed Rail in Colorado. RMRA is working to get the area along Interstate 25 along the Front Range which includes Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins and the area along I-70 between Denver and Glenwood Springs designated High Speed Rail Corridors. This group grew out of opponents of I-70 expansion plans to increase the highway’s capacity to carry skiers to the slopes. The website and the plans are impressive. The RMRA has posted some impressive rail plans on its website. These include improvements to existing rail lines to restore commuter rail between the cities on Colorado’s Front Range. RMRA has garnered some state funds and the governors of Texas, Colorado and New Mexico are campaigning to have I-25 from El Paso to Denver designated a high speed rail corridor in order to get more federal funds.
• Amtrak www.amtrak.com
The government owned corporation that provides intercity passenger rail service in the lower 48 states. Amtrak currently operates the Acela Express America’s only High Speed Train, some electric trains in the Northeast and some fast passenger trains. No plans for future High Speed Rail or High Speed Rail expansion are posted on Amtrak’s website. Outside the Northeast Corridor many of Amtrak’s diesel electric passenger trains operate at slower speeds than trains operated by private railroads that preceeded them. This is so because Amtrak has to use track owned by various private freight railroads where speed is restricted. Amtrak only owns the Northeast Corridor and hasn’t even gotten enough money from Congress to upgrade that route to conditions necessary for high speed rail. It must be noted that the Acela Express is as technologically advanced as any European or Asian High Speed train so Amtrak would probably be the operator of any future High Speed Rail systems built in the US.
• Midwest High Speed Rail Association http://www.midwesthsr.org
This is an organization of private citizens whose major focus seems to be upgrading and expanding passenger rail service in Illinois. They do have an impressive website and some very good and specific plans hopefully this could be a model for future grass roots rail lobbying efforts in the US.
• Midwest Interstate Passenger Commission http://www.miprc.org
This group represents nine state governments in the Midwest that are working with
Amtrak to expand and improve passenger rail service in the Midwest. The Commission’s main focus seems to be upgrading Amtrak diesel service but its website contains pictures of Acela and other electric High Speed Trains. No specific rail plans are presented on the site. Nine states are represented Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio. A map on the group’s website shows proposed rail lines connecting Midwestern cities as part of a Midwestern Rail Initiative. No specifics about technology are provided. Other than holding a yearly meeting of state government officials it’s not clear what this group is doing. This group laid out the proposed Chicago Rail hub President Obama mentioned in his speech about High Speed Rail on April 17.
• DesertXpress www.desertxpress.com
DesertXpress is a private group working to build a dedicated high speed passenger rail line between Victorville, California and Las Vegas running along I-15 . This group has an impressive website and claims to have invested $25 million in their plans. Their route was recently designated a federal High Speed Rail Corridor. The website indicates that they want to use off the shelf technology for trains running on track along I-15 it mentions both diesel and EMU technology that would run at 150 MPH. The idea behind this scheme is to reduce congestion on highways but because the train would stop at Victorville about 100 miles east of LA on I-15 it would increase congestion because people would have to drive the already congested I-15 to Victorville. The sensible expedient of building a connection between DesertXpress and the proposed California High Speed Rail Line at San Bernardino is not mentioned. Whether drivers who are already half way to Vegas would be willing to stop and get on a train is a good question to ask. It must be noted that this group’s website does include a proposed future connection to the California High Speed Rail Authority’s rail line at Palmdale which would provide a rail connection to LA, Bakersfield, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, the Bay Area and Sacramento. The CHSRA has announced that it has no plans to spend federal High Speed Rail funds on a train to Vegas. This group is apparently not related the schemes to build a maglev line been LA and Vegas. Interestingly enough there appear to be no active websites for organizations working on a maglev train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Governors want federal cash for high speed rail study
It looks like some sense is prevailing in Colorado state government for a change. Our state's governor Bill Owens has teamed up with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Texas Gov. Rick Perry two long time rail boosters to ask the Federal Railroad Administration to designate the I-25 Corridor between El Paso and Denver a high speed rail corridor.
This action doesn't mean that high speed rail is coming to Colorado it simply means that the three states would be eligable for $5 million to study the possibility of fast passenger trains operating along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
The governors' proposal makes a lot of sense, a lot more sense than earlier high speed rail proposals for the corridor which wanted high speed rail running from Cheyenne to Albquerque. El Paso is a substansial metropolitan area and a gateway to Mexico. The I-25 Corridor north from El Paso to Denver is a straight shot that econmpasses the cities of El Paso, Alamagordo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Raton, NM, Trinidad, CO, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver. These cities are all fairly close together and there's a lot of existing railroad track on this route. More importantly the land along the route is fairly flat so the building would be fairly easy except on the Raton Pass the Monument Hill area south of Denver. To make matters easier there's already a commuter rail line the RoadRunner linking Albqueque and Santa Fe and the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority has already done a lot of the preliminary studies for commuter rail between Denver and Pueblo. The Regional Transportation District in Denver is planning to build a commuter rail line to Boulder and Longmont so those cities could easily be linked to the Denver to El Paso line. So this is a realistic rail plan that's quite doable if the money is there.
Such a commuter system would be a real boon to Colorado because it would make jobs in Denver and Colorado Springs more accesible to residents of economically depressed Pueblo and Trinidad and affordable housing in Pueblo accessible to poorer residents of the Denver area.
One suggestion here this system should be expanded north to Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington and Cheyenne, Wyoming. That would create a true front range rail system that hundreds of people would ride. It would also bring a fourth state into the plan and make it more likely for the plan to get the federal funds it would need.
This action doesn't mean that high speed rail is coming to Colorado it simply means that the three states would be eligable for $5 million to study the possibility of fast passenger trains operating along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
The governors' proposal makes a lot of sense, a lot more sense than earlier high speed rail proposals for the corridor which wanted high speed rail running from Cheyenne to Albquerque. El Paso is a substansial metropolitan area and a gateway to Mexico. The I-25 Corridor north from El Paso to Denver is a straight shot that econmpasses the cities of El Paso, Alamagordo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Raton, NM, Trinidad, CO, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver. These cities are all fairly close together and there's a lot of existing railroad track on this route. More importantly the land along the route is fairly flat so the building would be fairly easy except on the Raton Pass the Monument Hill area south of Denver. To make matters easier there's already a commuter rail line the RoadRunner linking Albqueque and Santa Fe and the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority has already done a lot of the preliminary studies for commuter rail between Denver and Pueblo. The Regional Transportation District in Denver is planning to build a commuter rail line to Boulder and Longmont so those cities could easily be linked to the Denver to El Paso line. So this is a realistic rail plan that's quite doable if the money is there.
Such a commuter system would be a real boon to Colorado because it would make jobs in Denver and Colorado Springs more accesible to residents of economically depressed Pueblo and Trinidad and affordable housing in Pueblo accessible to poorer residents of the Denver area.
One suggestion here this system should be expanded north to Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington and Cheyenne, Wyoming. That would create a true front range rail system that hundreds of people would ride. It would also bring a fourth state into the plan and make it more likely for the plan to get the federal funds it would need.
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