High-speed rail is dead in America. In Slate, Will Oremus does a postmortem that isn't as clueless as most of what one would find in the mainstream media. It makes some points familiar to my readers: The Obama plan wouldn't have been genuine high-speed rail, except in Florida, merely higher-speed; the funds were insufficient and dolled out helter-skelter across the country rather than focusing on corridors likely to bring success, etc. I would add that the Florida HSR was foolish from the get-go, aimed at a suburbianized, car-crazy state, rather than, say, California, the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast Corridor, where train travel is already popular and in demand.
In any event, this is a catastrophe for the nation.
On a general level, it is another sign that America just can't do great things any longer. It's an emphatic indication of the nihilistic paralysis of our politics, with one of our major political parties captured by extremists whose mission is pure destruction. It highlights yet another blow to the commons. It's a lost economic opportunity. High-speed rail would have created tens of thousands of jobs, for operating and not just construction. It had the potential, properly done, to seed new industries here to build the trains. It is exactly the kind of infrastructure spending that would stimulate an economy that as things stand faces years of high unemployment and stagnation. From an environmental standpoint, rail is much less destructive than cars and moves far more people with a small carbon footprint.
Mr. Obama and the Democrats never approached rail with a sustained and focused strategy. In addition to high-speed rail, we need the frequent and convenient rail service operating below the 150-mile-per-hour range. In other words, rebuilding Amtrak. In my lifetime, the United States had the most advanced passenger rail system in the world; one could go to virtually all cities and larger towns by train. That was all lost. Amtrak has faced a battle for its life since being created in 1971, and under-funding has fed service problems creating a self-fulfilling feedback loop of perceived failure. Perceived: The remaining trains are highly popular, much to the chagrin of Amtrak haters such as wealthy Republican John Sidney McCain III.
A serious approach would also have emphasized building commuter rail in major cities, as well as shoring it up where it already exists. In addition to providing jobs, it would have retrofitted suburbia for a high-cost energy future that is baked in the cake, giving people options beyond single-occupancy car trips. Again, where this is done it is highly popular, including the Sounder trains in Seattle. Adding service to already popular passenger rail corridors, such as the Cascades in the Northwest and Surfliner in Southern California would have also yielded big results, as well as providing templates that other metropolitan areas could have copied. All this would not only have provided for the future, but have helped fill the huge demand hole left by the recession and engaged Americans in a productive enterprise that didn't involve finance or real-estate hustles.
Instead, local transit and state corridors continue a yearly fight for funding just to stay alive. Plans early in Mr. Obama's term to strengthen Amtrak have been thwarted by the Tea Party takeover of the House, and now Amtrak is fighting for its life again. Mitt Romney promises to kill it. Various Republicans want to turn the Northeast Corridor over to Wall Street speculators, which ensures that 40 years of hard work to build a successful passenger rail spine will be looted and thrown away.
Most Americans won't notice these lost opportunities. They don't get out much or realize America's growing backwardness. They don't comprehend that a modern rail network, including high-speed rail, is a given is every populous advanced nation. They are stuck in 1970, when gas was cheap, when we had 100 million fewer people and less congested urban areas, when in many places it was like those car ads on television that show only one vehicle on an empty road. Somehow they think highways and airlines aren't subsidized; they think many things that are not true, including this. Every transportation system is subsidized. In our case, we just have fewer choices. It's an outrage that there are not frequent and fast trains linking, say, Phoenix and LA, Phoenix and Tucson. No, they're happy to spend a huge portion of our lives stuck in traffic, changing the planet for the worse.
Too bad that reality, in the form of oil scarcity and higher prices, increasing congestion and, ooops, climate change, will throttle these American delusions.
The big victors are the fossil fuel industries and car-makers, which have the money to lobby for what they want in Washington. Rail has none of this political power. Too bad no one was able to push the fear button and make Americans realize that our regressiveness, including lack of an advanced passenger rail system, is a national security issue. So here we are. Stuck. It's a hell of a way to run a railroad and a country.
There was a time when cattle was king. As a result there are still civil laws and tax laws on the books that favor cattle owners over everyone else.
There was a time when railroad was king. As a result there are still civil laws, tax laws and transport regulations that still favor railroads over everyone else. I often go up against some of these old railroad regulations and I have won zero battles and lost too many to count.
At their height there were 230,468.32 miles of trackage. (Emil, the .32 is for you,. I thought you might like that) Currently there are still 200,000 miles of trackage.
The "date of death" on the death certificate of the railroads would have to state "during the 50's and 60's, which was also the birth of "the explosion of cars" and the interstate highway system.
As has been mentioned on the blog before, we should be discussing flying cars at this point in our history. The fact that we are not having that discussion would mean that somewhere we bumped into an invisible wall that stopped our forward progress as a society. I wonder what it is that composes that invisible barrier???
Posted by: azrebel | December 08, 2011 at 08:49 PM
Har,
Commuter rail only works where you have a dense enough destination to push the workers into their jobs. One of the grand failures of Phoenix is the lack of jobs downtown. The spread of downtown to the freeway corridors, with the 101 being the perfect example, further dictates that unless you follow the freeways with service connects to real bus lines, you have nothing. Quite simply, Phoenix is ill designed, and does not have the density at the current prices of gas sufficient to push people into bus transit.
Without sufficient taxes to subsidize bus service, the poor can't even use our marginal bus system, because it does not have a rich enough interconnect system between bus lines. Two hours to travel 12 miles is common, and that just doesn't compete with a car that takes 20 minutes.
I am tired of heavy infrastructure failures, when the damn bus is the starting problem.
All of this light rail crap could be done much cheaper with natty gas buses and with better service.
Stupidity is not confined entirely to the right in this case.
Rail simply costs too much.
For the cost of light rail, we could have but thousand of new riders onto our bus system, and still had money left over.
That waste, more than anything, is what pisses me off. I have lived in urban areas, and good bus service is what allows the poor real freedom to commute to jobs. Which is the point of a real transit system.
Posted by: AllenM | December 08, 2011 at 09:19 PM
"The remaining trains are highly popular, much to the chagrin of Amtrak haters such as wealthy Republican John Sidney McCain III." - Rogue
Just imagine our Congressmen travelling from their states to Washington by rail, mingling with their constituents, instead of flying there in their corporate jet cocoons. A connected, new world.
Posted by: John Henry | December 09, 2011 at 08:35 AM
"Without sufficient taxes to subsidize bus service[...]" - AllenM
Automobiles are subsidized in our system at every level. Change in transit, as for change in the energy regime, requires first addressing entrenched subsidies.
Posted by: Rate Crimes | December 09, 2011 at 09:09 AM
“I am tired of heavy infrastructure failures, when the damn bus is the starting problem.”
Actually, the starting problem is what you wrote here:
“Quite simply, Phoenix is ill designed, and does not have the density at the current prices of gas sufficient to push people into bus transit.”
Real estate development patterns are influenced by the type of infrastructure built. Since WWII, highway funding has been available at a ratio of about 8:1 compared to transit funding. The outcome of decades of highway projects and other market distortions is the dispersed, car-dependent urban form that you see in Phoenix and most other cities that were created in the second half of the 20th century.
So, when you write: “good bus service is what allows the poor real freedom to commute to jobs. Which is the point of a real transit system.”
This is false, particularly in a city like Phoenix. The point of a real transit system in a post-war city is to stimulate the re-design of the environment into a walkable format that focuses development close to transit and, in turn, increases accessibility to jobs and services for everyone, not just people who can’t afford cars. Buses alone do not accomplish this objective. The quality and certainty provided by rail infrastructure is required (it’s also cheaper in the long run due to lower operating costs).
There is a large and growing market for neighborhoods that do not require long commutes and daily driving for all of ones needs. This market includes not just low-income folks, but people who prefer to live in active urban centers and walkable neighborhoods. What real estate has the highest price per square foot in America? (hint: it’s not in Paradise Valley or Gilbert) The key to meeting this demand with additional supply is providing the right type of infrastructure – and that starts with rail transit.
Posted by: Phx Planner | December 09, 2011 at 09:18 AM
Phx Planner beat me to the chicken-and-egg argument, and stated it better than I would have.
Posted by: Petro | December 09, 2011 at 12:04 PM
Scene: Hallway in the hall of congress.
Railroad lobbyist to congress-person, "hey buddy, here's a brand spanking new $20 bill. How about you hang on to it and maybe throw a little favorable legislation our way?"
Congress-person, Scowling, silent.
Oil lobbyist to congress-person, Hey, can I get your wire-transfer info for your bank in the Bahamas? We have $1,500,000 to help with your re-election efforts. Maybe you could introduce legislation making a person a terrorist if they say anything bad about the oil industry. You know, the war on terror thing?
congress-person, "sure, I'd be glad to."
Thanks, Mr. McCain, tell your friends Kyl and Lieberman and Graham there's plenty for them too.
Posted by: azrebel | December 09, 2011 at 07:48 PM
Well, to be fair, trains can't fly over to South Korea for cheap maintenance: you know, the very minimum required for compliance.
Posted by: pbm | December 10, 2011 at 07:17 AM
From planestupid.com
--------
Plane Stupid is a network of grassroots groups that take non violent direct action against aviation expansion.
We have three demands:
•End to short haul flights and airport expansion
•Stop aviation advertising
•A just transition to sustainable jobs and transport
Posted by: Train Smart | December 10, 2011 at 05:21 PM
This is on topic because a rail line ran through Maricopa.
I had the misfortune of visiting Maricopa, AZ today.
I hadn't been to Maricopa since around 1980 when I went dove hunting down there. There used to be a four way stop at the main intersection and there was a Circle K store on one corner. THAT WAS IT.
Today in Maricopa, I spent a good deal of time caught up in traffic jams all through town.
Are you kidding me?????
Who in their &%$#@ minds would buy a house down there?
Who in their *&%@$%*&%$# minds would commute from there to the valley??
Who in their &%$#@%#@& minds would put up with a traffic jam down there on a daily basis???
I was so &%$#*# *&%$#@ about the whole experience that I had to have a big *&%$@$^ drink just to settle down.
That is the biggest pile of &%$@$%&* bull&^%$#^ I have seen in my *&^%$*& life.
Hey, Maricopa, AZ &%$@ you.
Posted by: azrebel | December 10, 2011 at 05:26 PM
Isn't Maricopa (the city of, pop. ~40K) now contiguous with Gila Bend?
Posted by: Gila Bend Dental & Metal Scrap | December 10, 2011 at 06:04 PM
Dosent Sara Palin's kid live in Maricopa?
Didnt one of them thar princes visit Gila Bend? There is a nice drive between Maricopa and Gila Bend.
AZREBEL You go to Maricopa after the fan club meeting?
Posted by: cal Lash | December 10, 2011 at 06:17 PM
Yes, cal I went there after the meeting.
GBD & MS,
If Maricopa is contiguous with Gila Bend, then &%@$ Gila Bend too.
Thanks, GBD & MS, I had just settled down and you done got me all fired up again.
Posted by: azrebel | December 10, 2011 at 06:37 PM
Maricopa also had a couple of nasty bars. Those were the days. By the 2000s, it was claiming it would become the next Scottsdale. Now it's just an exurban disaster.
I'll be in town next week for a few days. If anybody wants to meet Thursday afternoon somewhere on the LRT line, let me know.
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | December 10, 2011 at 06:50 PM
Jon: enjoy your time in Phoenix. May the sun shine brightly on you and Ms. Susan! Having an escape from PuddleTown is a very good thing . . . .
Posted by: morecleanair | December 10, 2011 at 09:24 PM
See what you did, GBD & MS, You took advantage of me being upset at Maricopa thus under the influence of fire-water and you caused me to curse at Gila Bend. I just Google mapped Gila Bend and it is still the quaint fork in the road in the middle of nowhere. So, along with my apologies, I would like to direct that curse back at Maricopa, AZ where it belongs.
Again, this post is on topic as there is a rail line through Gila Bend.
Posted by: azrebel | December 11, 2011 at 04:05 AM
Welcome to Haboobville.
Posted by: Dusty Haboob | December 11, 2011 at 08:16 AM
AZREBEL Did you miss the 100 year run from Tucson to downtown Gila Bend a couple of weeks ago?
Posted by: cal Lash | December 11, 2011 at 10:15 AM
"To his credit, Ross' examination of Phoenix is much more complex and substantive than most of the simplistic screeds so apparently popular among journalists who live in wet, dreary places". -Grady Gammage
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2011/12/10/20111210phoenix-sustainability-criticism-wrong.html#ixzz1gFVdioVC
Hmmmm, I wonder who he could be talking about? Gammage makes some good points but fails to mention what really is unsustainable about metro Phoenix; urban sprawl, air pollution, etc. He also can throw in mass transit and lack of commuter rail into the mix.
Posted by: phxSUNSfan | December 11, 2011 at 10:46 AM
The thing that stood out in highest profile from Gammage's column was the admission that he was the author of the Morrison Institute study "Watering the Sun Corridor".
The water supply issue is complex and I haven't made a study of it vis a vis sustainable population growth. I'll leave it to Mr. Talton and others to opine. Ditto high-speed rail, though many of Mr. Talton's broader points in this essay are excellent.
At the moment I've been busy researching Phoenix's economy in response to Robert Robb's boosterish column a week or so ago. It's fascinating and I've already made some interesting discoveries. Any response is likely to be fully in the spirit of Rogue Columnist, so perhaps Mr. Talton will consider it for possible inclusion as a Guest Column at some point. (It's currently a work in progress and will only be offered if I feel that the end results are sufficiently compelling.)
Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | December 11, 2011 at 03:06 PM
"This is false, particularly in a city like Phoenix. The point of a real transit system in a post-war city is to stimulate the re-design of the environment into a walkable format that focuses development close to transit and, in turn, increases accessibility to jobs and services for everyone, not just people who can’t afford cars. Buses alone do not accomplish this objective. The quality and certainty provided by rail infrastructure is required (it’s also cheaper in the long run due to lower operating costs)."
You have to be kidding, Phx Planner.
Those houses are built. The infrastructure is built. The lack of jobs in the center city core dictates you go bus now, because there is not the density to sustain light rail.
How many people per square mile, plus how many feeder bus lines? Do the math, we don't have it, and without a large center city cluster, we ain't ever gonna get it.
Now, if we burned down half of the crappy neighborhoods south of the cute hysterical districts, you could rebuild it under the flight paths of the airport.
Where are the jobs to support your fantasy? Might as well start more real bus service, and as someone pointed out, it won't show up without subsidy.
Now, for all of those millions needed to move that rail one mile, how many bus lines could move at one per 12 minutes for rush hour, which would push massive ridership of the poor.
And the poor are what ride the bus.
The urban hipster fantasy is just ridiculous outside of Manhattan.
Sorry, but we live with what we got, not what we would have with a total fantasy reset of the last two decades.
Choices were made, and the consequences are here for decades.
My office coordinator used to ride the bus from 35th ave and Bell to downtown Phx, and miss one bus connection and she was more than 1 hour late. Ridiculous.
Simply ridiculous.
And yes, I have lived in places with serious downtowns, and old suburbs with train, subway, and bus connections. Only with sufficient job density would the middle class ride transit, and only if it was time efficient to the jobs.
Posted by: AllenM | December 11, 2011 at 07:23 PM
Agreed. The bridges were burned long ago. Escape.
Posted by: Escapee | December 11, 2011 at 09:10 PM
AllenM, the point is that future development should occur in dense CBDs. The infrastructure for sprawl is there, but to maintain it as is or expand it would mean that externalities will have to be added in; eventually. That will make the status quo much less appealing and give the much needed push for intense urban development; even in Phoenix.
Bus transit is inefficient and expensive. Your office-mate not only missed connections because of ridiculous headway, but due to predictable and unpredictable traffic patterns and congestion; e.g. accidents, event traffic, etc.
Posted by: phxSUNSfan | December 11, 2011 at 10:06 PM
phxSUNSfan said, "even in Phoenix."
EXCEPT in Phoenix.
Posted by: Escapee | December 12, 2011 at 09:20 AM
Escapee, it is already happening. Light rail in Phoenix is extremely successful and properties that were vacant, including highrises, have no vacancies. More housing in downtown is on the way, just not fast enough!
Posted by: phxSUNSfan | December 12, 2011 at 10:38 AM
The ever optimistic phxsunfan. Hope your right. the city grows, UP, not out and like the core of the human body it does ever thing to keep the heart pumping even if it means losing its extremities.
Posted by: cal Lash | December 12, 2011 at 11:52 AM
phxSUNSfan said, "More housing in downtown is on the way, just not fast enough!"
Just where I'd wanna 'live' with my kids: in the middle of a brown cloud above toxic waters.
Posted by: Escapee | December 12, 2011 at 01:50 PM
Escapee, I was just trying to buoy up phoenixsunfan.
But
I am with you.
Sounds like you are one of those folks in the "Good News" by Edward Abbey.
From
the Sajuaro Kid
and his dog spot.
PS some say the coming Global conditions will make Louisiana and the Dakotas the place to be.
Posted by: cal Lash | December 12, 2011 at 02:04 PM
Since I work in aviation, I'm opposed to the above limits. I'm too old to learn useful work.
Posted by: eclecticdog | December 12, 2011 at 03:08 PM
"Just where I'd wanna 'live' with my kids: in the middle of a brown cloud above toxic waters". - Escapee
Find me a large city where this is not the case. HINT: Flagstaff doesn't count as a large city...
Posted by: phxSUNSfan | December 12, 2011 at 04:39 PM
"PS some say the coming Global conditions will make Louisiana and the Dakotas the place to be". -Cal Lash
Louisiana if you like house boats.
;-)
Rising ocean/sea levels will make parts of Louisiana uninhabitable. Unless of course, huge levies are raised around certain cities like New Orleans...
Posted by: phxSUNSfan | December 12, 2011 at 04:42 PM
But it will make for great Hydroponics and fish farms
Posted by: cal Lash | December 12, 2011 at 05:00 PM
OK you folks brought up the air thing, so this posting is for morecleanair.
In the old days, I remember watching the brown cloud build up along the length of I 17 then it would slowly spread across the downtown area. If nothing else, it was interesting.
I recently had the opportunity to go aloft with my brother-in-law pilot.
Here's the scenario: 9am, weekday around 3500 ft, traveling the valley south to north. I was able to make out the I 17 cloud, I 10 cloud, 60 cloud, 51 cloud, 202 cloud, 101 cloud (picture the 101 cloud as a big circle around the whole valley. The only cloud I couldn't make out was the 303 cloud.
Talk about progress.
Posted by: azrebel | December 12, 2011 at 05:00 PM
And what about the black jet fuel cloud on top of the brown cloud over Sky Harbor?
Posted by: cal Lash | December 12, 2011 at 05:16 PM
Sky Harbor: The Airport to Nowhere.
Posted by: Escapee | December 13, 2011 at 07:27 AM
So escapee did you land in Portal
Posted by: cal Lash | December 13, 2011 at 10:14 AM
Homey is here
Posted by: Rogue Columnist | December 13, 2011 at 11:04 AM
Nice rain u brought, HOMEY
The Barrio need it
Posted by: cal lash | December 13, 2011 at 11:08 AM