January 29, 2010

We need a rail leader now!

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By  Dan Reichard

• Hans Hammarquist[ January 29th, 2010 @ 8:09pm ]

  Demolish AMTRAC! Stop throwing good $$ after bad once. We need to invest in new technology such as a nation wide PRT system. we need something now too fancy thaht can reach 100 mph and take 2 - 4 passengers per car and can take us directly where we want to go and when. Why shall we have to travel for miles and stuff us in a train-set just because it can travel 200 mph or more.
  
  People will take public transportation only once they have an alternative to the cars.
  
  Anybody with me or am I the only one that can see the advantages with a fast, nation-wide PRT system?

• Richard Brooks[ January 30th, 2010 @ 12:31pm ]

  PRT? Where no one can laugh at our foil hats? Where on the planet has *anyone* invested in a PRT system (that wasn't merely a computer simulation)? It isn't brilliant - it's delusional.
  
  People all over the world use public transit, and use both "conventional" and high-speed rail, for their travel needs. Amtrak has been running on a shoestring budget since its inception & shouldn't be scapegoated for the perpetual underfunding it has suffered. A rail czar that could deal with both freight & passenger service - and the infrastructural improvements to serve them both - is crucial in this time of a world-wide rail renaissance! New rail projects throught the US - and Warren Buffett's purchase of BNSF - are merely part of the writing on the wall....
  
  R.C. Brooks
  Austin, TX

• John Killian[ January 31th, 2010 @ 4:08pm ]

  The only way that it can be accomplished is by magnetic levitation type vehicles, that will be able to travel at high speeds and operate with less or even no cost. They may also be able to offer the small type compartments with only few passengers to a single destination. This would be similar to the rides at a fair.

• Frank[ January 31th, 2010 @ 4:16pm ]

  It's the car industry stopped the rail growth in the states. Now, with the downsizing of car industry, public transportation just pop-up in the Gov't's mind. However, public transportation needs good 'networks' including Metro, bus, park-n-ride, etc. Intercity express is just a start.
  
  Dan, you have my vote, a good leader is important before spending the money.

• Jeff Brown[ February 1st, 2010 @ 4:19am ]

  We need a fundamental change in transportation policy, to include bulk cargo as well as packages and people. Our country doesn't have a consistent approach for moving large numbers of anything, except cars. Rail and maritime expansion should not be a special cause to be championed by special interests. We should naturally be expanding all transportation as we do with highways and airports. We tend to get caught up in arguments over who "should" get the transportation funding, and this only leads to more posturing, not solutions. We forget what is being transported; people aren't the only cargo on the move in this country.

• Badar Zulqarni[ February 1st, 2010 @ 8:11am ]

  We really need to heavily invest in Mass Transportation systems throughout the country by updating and extending the existing infrastructure and building the new systems/corridors. US, that pioneer in mass transportation systems, seems to be losing to the Europeans, Asian (China, Japan, South Korea, India). Hell while we and burning billions in bailing out Wall Street/Bankers and waging Wars, Commies of China allocated $700 billion in developing railway system throughout the their country in next 20 years.
  
  Needless to say, our existing roadways/expressways cannot support the growing population in commuting to and from work. Aviation industry is vulnerable because of fuel prices and security that it cannot be relied upon as heavily as we did in the past.
  
  We need a leader who cannot be swayed by the temporary shifts in policies/funds caused by politics and lobbyists.
  

• Dave[ February 1st, 2010 @ 3:10pm ]

  This topic will be talked about for years before anything is truely done in my opinion. Government decides something must be done and wastes money on case studies etc., then once up and running stops funding the process. This is what has happened to mass transit and it will happen to the rail system too if it ever up and running. Government will mandate how it is to operate but will cut the needed funds to do so.

• Jan van Eck[ February 2nd, 2010 @ 1:37pm ]

  You will see a major change in the adoption of passenger rail IF and WHEN the ownership of the rails is separated from the USAGE of the rails. right now, the freight companies "own" the rails, and can and do dictate when the passenger units can travel over them (and for what price). This is not logical; in no other sector does the user control the pathway. I would propose that rail ownership and control be placed in the hands of an "Independent System Operator" similar to what we see in electricity transmission; then the ISO determines the passage of the trains, and their sequence, and charges the operators of the trains a fee for the passage. With this system, independent rail operators get access to the railbed, and can compete to provide service. Just watch how train service expands when you remove this artificial barrier to competition.
  
  Do the trucking companies own the highways? Do the air carriers own the airports? Do the barge operators own the river channels and the canals? Nope. they just pay a fee. Why not rail on a similar model? Because rail was set in a model of the 1800's? That is not a sufficient reason. time to modernize our practices.

• John Sambdman[ February 8th, 2010 @ 4:20pm ]

  I don't see any interest in elevated rail development, at least not from anyone who would actually ride it. The only interested parties are those who would build it and those in government who want to look like they are doing something with taxpayer money. The truth is that there is no burning need for it from the average Joe. AMTRAK is proof of that. Amtrak could never make money because its operations and routes are determined, not by maximization of revenues and careful cost controls, but rather by pols who want special trains to nowhere and union leaders who expect their members to receive raises regardless of the quality of the service. (In certain instances, outdated work rules have called for six years of severance for laid-off Amtrak workers.)
  Similarly, any national rail policy would be determined by the political expediency of the politically connected and not by any actual need which may be present. The result would be massive spending for trains that almost no one will ride. The truth is that there can be no super leader capable of running a drive toward national rail service. No one man is capable of that. Just as cenntral planning was a disaster in Eastern Europe, it won't work here. You should all read "I, Pencil" by Leonard Read. It would be most illuminating. You can find it here : http://mises.org/media/3078
  The true problem is that there is a massive market distortion caused by government subsidies in the transportation sector - road, rail, shipping, air, etc. All such subsidies should be rolled back over time and the market would determine the best use of resources vis a vis transportation. As for a national policy, government should get out of the way by localizing and deregulating the transportation sector. This would encourage innovation and development in ways we cannot imagine.

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