Even as new M8 commuter cars rolled onto the New Haven Line, the debate over high-speed rail picked up speed ”“ both in Connecticut and along the Northeast Corridor.
In June, U.S. Rep. John Mica of Florida introduced the proposed Competition for Intercity Passenger Rail Act, which would transfer ownership of the Northeast Corridor from Amtrak to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The DOT would be tasked with soliciting bids from the private sector to build a high-speed rail line on the corridor.
The U.S. High Speed Rail Association and other proponents argue that a system allowing top speeds of 220 mph is feasible; Amtrak”™s Acela Express service tops out at 150 mph, with an average speed of about half that.
“Train operations need to be separated from the infrastructure operations, as in our other forms of transportation here in America,” said Thomas Hart Jr., general counsel of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, testifying on the bill last month in Washington, D.C. “This will allow private, for-profit rail operators to compete for passengers in the newly upgraded (Northeast Corridor).”
Hart argued the federal government needs to approach high-speed rail for the Northeast Corridor with the same determination that produced the original transcontinental railroad, or the interstate highway system; and noted several high-speed rail systems globally constructed in the past two decades that are producing operating profits today.
“The development of a true (high-speed rail) system would necessitate new, dedicated track independent of freight operations,” Hart said. “With the right development and adequate investment ”¦ there is a vast consumer base that can be tapped.”
The question is, of course, where to run track for any dedicated line. Last year, Amtrak proposed a high-speed rail line that would bypass most of coastal Fairfield County and Connecticut, in favor of a route connecting Hartford, Waterbury, Danbury and Westchester County Airport in New York that experts say would be far cheaper to construct.
The Regional Plan Association (RPA) said it sees the new federal bill as a positive first step toward implementing high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor, but cautioned that the existing corridor”™s repair needs totaling $8.8 billion must be addressed by the public sector. Mica”™s draft legislation also proposes to open state-sponsored and long-distance passenger rail corridors to competition with Amtrak, which RPA opposes.
“The separation of infrastructure from operations allows both entities to focus on a narrow set of operational goals,” said Robert Yaro, RPA president, in testifying on the bill last month. “This arrangement also facilitates neutral dispatching, which would optimize use of the corridor, reduce delays for both commuter and intercity trains, and allow new private operators to enter the market. To fully realize these benefits, the legislation should in fact go further, authorizing U.S. DOT to acquire the Northeast Corridor rail infrastructure that is currently held by commuter railroads and state transportation agencies. The entire corridor should be owned and managed by one government?chartered infrastructure corporation, ideally one with a long?term outlook and some degree of political autonomy.”
Yaro cites the example of Spain, which took such a tack with its own railroad, which now ranks as the second-largest system in the world and which provides a refund if a train arrives more than 5 minutes late.
John Mica has always been an arrogant, self-impressed blowhard, but we now know for certain that he also does not speak the truth. That sorry fact has been proven beyond any doubt by the numerous exaggerations and outright falsehoods contained in his written statement in support of this preposterous bill. Please refer to the web site of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (www.narprail.org) for a detailed and documented statement that thoroughly refutes Mica and his claims in support of this proposed legislation.
For all of Amtrak’s faults — most of which are attributable to the near starvation-level of funding the Republicans have given it over the years — the railroad does a remarkably good job. Witness steadily increasing ridership for the past 19 consecutive months. Furthermore, system-wide, Amtrak covers 86% of its operating costs from fares and other revenue … an accomplishment no other national rail passenger system anywhere in the world can come close to matching.
Republicans and conservative ideologues rant against Amtrak because it receives a relatively small annual subsidy of about $1.5 billion. (The U.S. sends that same amount every year in foreign aid to Egypt, for heaven’s sake!) Yet they refuse to acknowledge that ALL forms of public transportation are subsidized — from the airlines to highways to bike lanes and
sidewalks — which is appropriate and proper in a modern, civilized society.
This proposed legislation is nothing but an attempt by Mica and his accomplices to gut and eventually kill Amtrak, our national rail passenger system. Ironically, and as elequent testimony to Mica’s true motives, his proposal has been declared unconstitutional by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.
Every other developed and industrialized country in the world has long since realized that rail has become the preferred mode of transportation. The U.S. continues to fall farther and farther behind for which the blame — and eventually the judgment of history — will come to rest at the doorways of John Mica and others of his ideological ilk.
“Train operations need to be separated from the infrastructure operations, as in our other forms of transportation here in America,†said Thomas Hart Jr., general counsel of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, testifying on the bill last month in Washington, D.C. “This will allow private, for-profit rail operators to compete for passengers in the newly upgraded (Northeast Corridor).â€
This is exactly what Britain did and it has been a failure. Private companies run trains and a non-profit company owns the trains. Fares are 30% higher than the rest of Europe, and still the train companirs recieve billions in subsidies.