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Trackside PRINTS & HOBBIES Privatize Passenger? Well, Yes and No
BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, a confi- dential memo will be circulating (not yet gone public as of this writing) wherein rail- road insiders are getting a view of what is an implied “re-setting” of the passenger train agenda for the United States. The ten-point outline is a de facto “re-set” from the vision of super High Speed Rail to a focus on bring- ing about a world-class (ultimately opera- tionally self-sustaining) passenger train ser- vice (HSR or not, or combination). That circumstance has eluded our U.S. industrial giant for most of the years since the end of World War II (privately-operated passenger rail’s “last hurrah.”)
On Several Fronts The memo emerged just one or two days be- fore an announcement that Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) was planning a pri- vately-operated passenger train for 240 miles between Orlando and Miami. It also happened to coincide with a former Amtrak president’s hints (ignored or quickly slapped down by much of the industry) that maybe the Class I railroads were thinking of get- ting back into the passenger train business. Mind you, High Speed Rail plans are still
on the drawing boards, complete with con- sultants, engineers, lobbyists, citizen advo- cates, map-makers, position papers, local, state, and congressional supporters — all re- maining in place. They will soldier on. If nothing else, their efforts serve the positive purpose of maintaining pressure for the overall goal of advancing the cause of better passenger train service in America, even as (at this writing) authorities in California are proposing to narrow that state’s HSR ambitions by about $30 billion. The new plan appears to empha- size a “walk before you run” approach. The movement for a steady march toward
super Japanese-style HSR has settled in for the long haul. Some of the above parties in the HSR movement anticipated this colli- sion with reality. Others may not have done so. Now to the memo:
Pssst! Kansas! One recalls the 1968 movie The Graduate, where a young man, diploma in hand and contemplating his career, was receiving ad- vice via the whispers of supposed wise adults to think “Plastics!” In 2012, the clear- ly implied underlying whisper in this draft report making the rounds in some capitol corridors is “Kansas!” — i.e. fill out the pas- senger train map and arrange support in such a way that all of America has a high profile relationship with trains they can ride. Some of this re-focus has been forced by
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political realities. Decision-makers are struggling to pull the nation out of a $16 tril- lion indebtedness. With that perceived fiscal behemoth hanging over their heads, budget hawks are likely to have little patience with what they see as nagging questions about what is seen as the much smaller fry “dis- cretionary” programs. The latter — in many budget-cutting quarters does include run- ning passenger trains. You may see that as
short-sighted given the challenges facing air and highway transport. But it is in fact where the real world is at the moment. This column exists primarily to inform. Pontificating is limited mainly to explana- tion and clarification requirements. In that spirit, we examine the ten “re-set” proposals:
The Agenda, One by One 1) “Depoliticize” Amtrak, according to the (as of this writing) hush-hush memo in D.C. En- visioned is a system of transferring control (selection of its board members and chief ex- ecutive) to those states that fund regional services (California, North Carolina, Maine, etc.) and “those stakeholders that benefit from” the service, i.e. passengers, employees, vendors, and the eight states and District of Columbia on the Northeast Corridor. One can allow the imagination to run wild as to exactly how all of that would be worked out. Passenger ticket surcharge, we ask? “Not necessarily.” Smart strategy. Keep it gener- al, we get to the details all in good time. For now: a goal-oriented starting point or the whole thing falls apart on details. 2) Reorganize Amtrak as a stock corpora-
tion. How? The federal government would purchase its outstanding stock from Ameri- can Premier Underwriters (successor to Penn Central), and then re-sell it to the stakehold- ers. A key part of that plan would be divi- dend-paying preferred shares that would be available for purchase on the open market. The dividend would have a higher yield than that available for the money market funds, treasury bills, and CD’s, and would be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. However, the memo continues, “The yield
would be lower than Amtrak is currently paying on money it has borrowed in the past.” Those dollars would be a source of capital needs, such as equipment, track up- grades, etc. 3) Though Amtrak would still receive
public funding from the feds, passenger rail would be eligible for (now off-limits) sources such as the Highway Trust Fund, congestion mitigation funds, and programs for funding airport construction. That way, passenger trains will progress toward the same catego- ry as air and highway transport (not stick- ing out like the proverbial “sore thumb” in the federal budget). One assumes these ideas would be justified on the basis of fu- ture increases in intermodal connectivity. 4) Amtrak’s management structure and thinking would morph away from its pre- sent orientation toward cost and more to- ward revenue. The goal would be to make day-to-day operations self-sustaining. Capi- tal needs, just as with air and highway modes would still require federal backing. Each route or train would have a train manager to deal with the equipment, mar- keting , fares, on-board amenities, productive improvements and such required to cover the train’s direct (above the rail) costs, plus con- tribution to the common costs or overhead. 5) The perception in many quarters (rightly or wrongly) is that of an over-em-
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