And we are not referring to the commuter rail service in Utah.
As of this writing, Sens. Clinton and McCain appear to be in a primary winning mode. How do they fare on Passenger Rail?
Sen. McCain has been not voting for most critical Amtrak legislation. He is not vocally for any form of Passenger Rail. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to find one of his speeches that even mentions rail tranportation. We do not think that a President McCain would be a friend of Amtrak or of Passenger Rail.
On the other hand, Sen. Clinton is quite vocal about Passenger Rail and has strongly advocated spending that would improve - not just New York - but national long-distance Passenger Rail. Her voting record on Amtrak does leave something to be desired, but she has supported major initiatives that would fund a modern rail passenger transportation system. She doesn't flinch at the prospect of spending billions.
Of the front-running candidates we have looked at so far, Hillary Clinton seems to be one of our best hopes for the expansion and improvement of Passenger Rail in this country.
In future blogs, we will look at the Passenger Rail records of other presidential candidates that may still have a chance at their party's nomination.
© 2008 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com
2 comments:
Is anyone really looking for people who have money and are interested in reviving passenger rail lines with new technology for quieter, cleaner trains between major US cities and intra-city lines? It is neither technically, nor financially impossible in a country that would spend 13billion dollars to develop the STEALTH BOMBER.
Yes, but the stealth bomber was developed with free government money, not as a project that would satisfy the capital market requirements for risk and rate of return.
France's SNCF TGV high speed lines have earned a return on investment, but they started with a rail network already in a much higher state of development.
Look at the airline industry, which does not bring adequate returns. It survives by massive subsidization of airports and rural services and the air traffic control system. (Billions and Billions, much more than Amtrak. To say nothing of the post 9/11 bailout).
There ARE people who have money and would be interested in operating intercity passenger trains.
A shortlist of those people:
Tom Rader, Colorado Railcar
Norfolk Southern, CN, CP, and Pan Am railroads; First Group which owns Greyhound, National Express, Virgin Trains (owned by Richard Branson and Stagecoach, which owns Coach USA. There are others.
In order for these people to act, the conditions have to be set. That might mean an operating subsidy, government backed bonds or free infrastructure or tax credits for investment in physical plant by the freight railroads, carbon credits, changes in liability law, open access to the private US rail network, etc. This requires political action and could be opposed by labor and the freight railroads.
But the truth is, no. Nobody is really pushing that option. Some noises were made by the Bush administration, but they weren't sincere. The companies that have expressed some interest haven't seen it as a likely business success worth seriously pursuing.
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