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April news
20 April 2011
U.S. rejects high speed rail
Runaway Trains
Obamah's high-speed rail plan is a fiscal pipedream
We suppose every President is entitled to a pipedream, but President Obama's vow in his State of the Union address that 80% of Americans should have access to high-speed rail in 25 years is a doozy. Vice President Joe Biden has followed up by proposing, $53 billion in high-speed rail funding over the next six years. Seriously?
On recent evidence, this train is running in reverse. Though the Obama Administration has allocated more than $10 billion for highspeed rail projects the past two years, the new Republican governors of Wisconsin and Ohio, Scott Walker and John Kasich, have rejected the federal money. They don't want to put their taxpayers on the hook for projects destined for Insolvency Junction. Florida Governor Rick Scott is also reconsidering his state's proposed Orlando-Tampa line.
Even California, that famous incubator of pipedreams, is having second thoughts. The state has proposed an 800-mile high-speed rail plan from San Diego to San Francisco. Bay area residents are now protesting that the line will damage property values, while Central Valley farmers complain the line will ruin their land. The greater wonder is how the state will pay for a $43 billion train even as it's facing a $28 billion budget gap over the next 18 months and $20 billion annual deficits four years after that.
Two years ago California taxpayers approved a $9.95 billion bond initiative-to fund the train, buying the pitch that it would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and attract 94 million riders. The state's high-speed rail authority told voters a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Los Angeles would cost $55 – about the price of a Southwest flight. They said private equity firms were dying to invest, and that the train would operate without a public subsidy.
Studies by economists and financiaI consultants Alain Enthoven, William Grindley and William Warren have since debunked the rail authority's claims. Based on the costs of highspeed rail lines in Europe and Japan, the price tag likely will fall between $62 billion and $213 billion. A one-way ticket from San Francisco to Los Angeles will cost about $190, which means more people will choose to fly.
Because of uncertainty over costs and ridership forecasts, private equity firms say they won't invest without a revenue guarantee, i.e., an operating subsidy. Even if the state somehow manages to attract $10 billion in private equity, its business plan calls for another $5 billion in local grants and $15 billion more in federal funds. The $15 billion that they want from the feds would be nearly a third of Mr. Biden's $53 billion figure. Maybe high-speed rail is a backdoor bailout for California.
Messrs. Obama and Biden argue that the U.S. has to invest in high-speed rail to stay competitive with the world. Only if we're competing in the Debt Bowl! Two high-speed railways in the world have broken even, and those are in densely populated areas of France and Japan where people drive less because gas prices are twice as high as in the U.S., and many foreign intercity highways levy tolls.
The only area of the United States where high-speed rail begins to make sense is along the high-traffic, high-population Northeast Corridor from Washington, D.C., to Boston. Amtrak's Acela peaks at 150 miles per hour but averages only about 70 miles per hour because it has to share tracks with other trains. A truly high-speed rail that runs on its own dedicated track coUld reach 220 mph and cut the travel time nearly in half.
While such a line might offer benefits for the region's commuters, Amtrak estimates the line would take 25 years to develop and cost $117 billion. According to a 2009 study by the Congressional Research Service, six to nine million riders would need to take the train each year to justify the costs of high-speed rail systems similar to those in other countries. The Acela carried 3.4 million people in 2008.
Until the proponents of high-speed rail solve the problem of runaway costs, we'll stick with the train in Disney's Fantasyland. Who knows, maybe 80% of the country has taken it for a ride by now.
This story first appeared in Wall St. Journal on 19.02.2011.
7 April 2011
Chiltern Society joins nationwide campaign against HS2 proposals
The Chiltern Society has today (Thursday 7 April) joined a powerful alliance of major national charities challenging the Government's current proposals for high speed rail.
Nine other groups, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the RSPB, the Woodland Trust, the Wildlife Trusts, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have signed The Right Lines Charter for high speed rail, setting out the guidelines that need to be followed if a high speed rail network is to be established in the UK.
The Society has been in discussions with representatives from national organisations for weeks before the signing of today's charter.
Chairman John Taylor said: "The Government has been trying to trivialise and sideline those who oppose high speed rail crossing the Chilterns by dismissing them as Nimbys.
"This is not only offensive, but the Government has used this to avoid addressing the serious concerns that are being expressed from many quarters. Now, the issue is well and truly on the national agenda and the Government need to come up with sensible and detailed responses to the major issues highlighted in the Charter.
"The Charter states that high speed rail proposals need to be set in the context of a long-term national transport strategy, stating clear objectives.
"There should be range of options put forward for major transport infrastructure projects such as high speed rail, and public consultation should only take place once the public can see and examine the pros and cons of these options.
"Any high speed rail proposals must be designed from the start to avoid adverse impacts on the natural environment, cultural heritage and local communities.
"The Government's current high speed rail consultation and detailed HS2 proposals fall well short of these principles. They are unsound."
Other signatories to the charter are the Campaign for Better Transport, Civic Voice, the Environmental Law Foundation as well as the Chiltern Society.
The Society continues to vigorously oppose the HS2 proposals in the Chilterns. It has produced a DVD showing the devastating impact the line would bring and is organising daily protest walks around the Prime Minister's Chilterns base at Chequers. In addition it is producing detailed technical reports to be submitted into the HS2 consultation and to the Transport Select Committee considering the HS2 proposals. In addition it has launched a Facebook page which has attracted significant support.
A number of protest events are being planned for the coming months.
A copy of the Charter is available here on this website.
The Chiltern Society, with around 6,500 members, is one of the largest environmental groups in England directly associated with the conservation of one of the country's finest protected landscapes. It has over 400 active volunteers who protect the Chilterns' heritage landscapes, buildings and rivers, maintain Chiltern footpaths and bridleways, publish footpath maps, lead walks, cycle rides and photographic trips, and help Chiltern farmers. The Society's area includes 650 square miles across parts of four counties: Bucks, Beds, Herts and South Oxfordshire, an area about twice as large as the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Further information from Peter Brown 01494 814955 or 07989 881021
