I am one of those people who believes that passenger trains are the wave of the future, not a part of the past. Passenger rail has the ability to expand its capacity rapidly, carry on despite severe weather conditions and transport large numbers of people in an environmentally sound manner.
Railroads and light rail systems offer new options to people who can’t drive and don’t have access to airports. We have seen the future, and there are train tracks running through it.
In a state like Texas, where a “short” trip between two cities can mean 400 miles or more, efficient, affordable transportation is a necessity, not a luxury.
But good highways alone will not meet Texas’s future transportation requirements. We need a carefully planned, flexible combination of highways, airports, trains and mass transit to get people around our state as quickly and comfortably as possible. These systems will increase mobility and enhance tourism all across Texas.
We should be looking for ways to combine each mode of travel to strengthen our entire state and national transportation network. In rural and suburban Texas, such a multi-mode system has the potential to offer travellers options where few exist today.
For example, a grandmother in a rural area such as Bandera should be able to board a bus in her hometown, ride to the bus station in San Antonio, which is also the train depot, catch a train in San Antonio to visit relatives in Houston, or connect to the airport and travel to Philadelphia to visit friends. Trains can provide a new kind of family vacation, or offer groups a way to travel to conventions or football games. All Texans should be able to take advantage of such seamless, efficient connections.
Afuture-orientated transportation policy can only be created with states and communities acting as full partners. Texas already has pitched in. When Amtrak reduced the frequency of the Texas Eagle two years ago, the affected cities worked together to initiate connector bus services to keep Amtrak’s presence in Texas strong. The cities alongside the Eagle route have invested their money and enthusiasm to enhance the Amtrak service. The service has been restored – and is growing, as additional days are scheduled and Amtrak seeks more profitable contracts to include freight and mail delivery.
Forty years ago, the future of transportation was in highways and trucks, and the federal government built the interstate highway system. Twenty years ago, the future was in aviation and hundreds of airports were built or upgraded in federal-state-local partnerships.
Now those systems are mature, and their functions should be complemented by the further development and expansion of our passenger and commuter rail systems. This is a long-term investment that will pay big dividends not too far down the line.
Many of our highways and airport runways are operating at capacity. Railroad lines remain the one under-utilized transportation infrastructure.
Chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council, speaking to "The Road Gang", Washington's Highway Transportation Fraternity
As late as 1987 I was active in promoting a $1.6 billion, 1,077-mile, four-lane highway development programme for my home state of Mississippi.
During my business career I have owned five automobile dealerships and an air charter service. My first involvement at the federal level was in highway safety.
President Nixon named me to the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee. In 1975 President Ford appointed me to the National Transportation Policy Study Commission. I went into this process a strong believer in highway transportation.
After three years, I was transformed into a believer in intermodal transportation. Those sentiments were confirmed by my later work as Federal Railroad Administrator under President Bush – which also brought me into contact with leaders in aviation and transit. My comments today reflect nearly 30 years of hands-on experience.
The USA built 46,000 miles of interstate highway which dramatically increased mobility, economic growth and transportation efficiency.
Nobody envisaged the drawbacks of fragmentation of city and suburban areas, devastation of some city centres, effects of pollution, increasing congestion no matter how big the roads became, and the deaths of 40,000 people a year.
We would not tolerate this situation in air or rail service.
It has become clear that we cannot solve our transportation needs of the 21st century just by adding ever-more-costly highway lanes. This approach simply is not sustainable.
Today, a doublestack freight train leaving a coastal port can replace 280 trucks, run at speeds up to 90mph on the western railroads, and afford as much as nine times the fuel efficiency of container transport by highway.
Overall, the operational and economic efficiency of freight’s intermodal network conserves fuel, reduces other environmental impacts, and is significantly safer. lt represents the most economically and environmentally “sustainable” approach to transportation services.
It seems to me that our success in freight intermodal points the way to the most promising strategy for transportation improvements in the years ahead. I call it “Interstate II”. It is a new vision of truly high-speed intercity travel that is based upon steel, not pavement.
Interstate II already is under way. The New York-Washington Northeast Corridor has been in place since the 1970s. High-speed trains will serve Boston later this year. Turbotrains now operate on the Empire Corridor in New York State. Washington, Oregon and British Columbia are developing a high-speed route in the Pacific Northwest.
Eight years ago Congress authorized five new high-speed rail corridors. Today, with the TEA-21 Act, 13 have been approved for development.
When Congress voted $2.3 billion in capital funds for Amtrak, it sent a message that intercity rail passenger service is here to stay. During the first quarter of the 21st century, I believe that we can build about 20,000 miles of corridors capable of running trains at 90 to 150 miles per hour.
As much as another 10,000 miles of high-quality conventional rail routings will augment that network.
Another important element of Interstate II will be the city centre terminal. This serves the intermodal passenger network. It also serves cities both large and small and helps to revitalise the downtown areas.
For the equivalent of two cents on the motor fuel tax, one penny at the federal level and a second penny from the states – America could have, within 20 years, a network of high-speed rail corridors that approaches the scale of the interstate highway system. That commitment of fuel tax dollars would offer a powerful incentive to additional private investment as well.
Building this very safe, 20,000-mile, grade-separated, high-speed intercity rail network is the key to the quality of transportation services during the new century.
The money is there to do the job. The “road gang’s” next goal should be to build it.
You can e-mail Railwatch editor Ray King or e-mail Deltic Computers with comments about the Railwatch Web pages
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