Paying For Passenger Trains: How?
THERE IS NO SUCH ANIMAL as “profit” in the passenger ground transportation business, if you count the infrastructure involved. For that matter, airlines (those that have not gone under) currently make a small margin of so-called “profit,” but only after other en- tities (usually public) have put their money behind airports and certainly the federally- backed air traffic controllers.
Still available through the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society
What this boils down to is that in the ground passenger transportation business, “profit” realistically applies mainly, if not en- tirely, to the actual operations. Beyond that, what is required would be an ability find a government — on whatever level — that can pick up the tab for the infrastructure. In railroading that applies (in varying degrees) to Amtrak and most (if not all) commuter trains, subways, and light rail. With high- ways, we are talking about most roads and Interstates whose Highway Trust Fund — the gas tax — is going broke.
The Merchant’s Engines by Jerry Segrue
The history of the Lackawanna Railroad’s Pacific Steam engines with a concentration on the famous “Streamstyled Pacifics”. This 60 page softbound book includes over 50 photographs and separate scale drawings of each of the four streamstyled engines. Also covered is the construction of the DL&W’s several classes of 4-6-2s and their unorthodox numbering. Member price
$2100 plus $8.95 s&h
Non-member price $2495
Erie USRA Heavy Pacifics
by D.G. Biernaki
This 80 page book provides comprehensive coverage of these fascinating locomotives
Member price Non-member price
$1500 plus $8.95 s&h $1800 (Please allow 4-6 weeks delivery)
www.erielackhs.org Dealer Inquiries Welcome
Order from: ELHS, Department RF Jay Held, 10-10 ELLIS AVE, FAIR LAWN, N.J. 07410 No phone calls will be accepted For information send SASE
N.J., PA & Ohio res. add sales tax. Outside US extra s&h.
ELHS membership at $35 per membership cycle. Cycle includes four issues of our magazine “The Diamond” and four newsletters with modeling
information. Separate check please. Send to: ELHS c/o Randy Dettmer, 290 W. Prospect St., Hudson, OH 44236
16 JUNE 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM
The one and only main line public con- veyance in the world that, to our knowledge turns a profit without public subsidies is America’s freight railroad system. (Some question even that assertion, citing govern- ment involvement in projects such as CRE- ATE, enabling swifter rail traffic through Chicago, America’s traditional railroad cen- ter. Railroads and their government part- ners conscientiously make every effort to separate the portion of the money that is spent for public benefit and the portion of the outlay that benefits the railroads for their own bottom line — i.e. according to that formula, the railroads pay their way.) Two recent congressional hearings spot- lighted the dilemma of the two primary ground transport conveyances that are struggling mightily to navigate the realities in an era when their chief benefactor (the government) has indebted our children and grandchildren in such a way as make us wonder how our own ancestors in 1913 man- aged to get by with only one regular contact with the feds — the Post Office. What a dif- ference a century makes.
Show Me the Money!
A robust debate on the status of Amtrak’s long-distance trains was the focus on a con- gressional hearing on May 21, 2013. The Railroads subcommittee of the House Com- mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing “Understanding the Cost Drivers of Passenger Rail.” Witnesses includ- ed Joseph H. Boardman, Amtrak President and CEO; Robert Puentes, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; David Kutrosky, Man- aging Director, Capitol Corridor (Calif.); and Ross Capon, CEO/President, the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP). Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Denham
(R-Calif.) opened with a comment cheering the success of Amtrak’s regional corridor services around the country, especially the Acela service which has captured 75 per cent of the New York-Washington air-rail mar- ket. “The one area [where congressional and Amtrak efforts] have not seen success,” the
chairman complained, “is improving the fi- nancial performance of the long-distance routes. Year after year, these routes lose money; in 2012 they lost a combined 600 million. We simply cannot afford to continue these levels of subsidized losses year after year,” the congressman scolded. Capon (of NARP) said the idea of requir- ing the states to pay to keep the long dis- tance schedules intact “would be a death sentence for the long-distance trains,” not- ing that every state served by a given route (in some cases as many as eight or nine) would have to agree on schedules, service amenities and cost allocations (a practical impossibility). All it would take to eliminate the service would be the refusal of just one state to participate.
Puentes (of Brookings) stopped short of advocating a required fee for the states on long distance lines, but he did allow as how the states and Amtrak could become “part- ners.” That sounded vague, but I think I know what he means. There have been a few instances over the years where some states have treated their one-train-per-day Am- trak service (especially those at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.) as some sort of stranger or foreign ob- ject to be ignored. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) argued that elimination of long-distance trains would leave Americans in 23 states without any in- ter-city public transportation. Amtrak boss Joe Boardman testified that operation of long-distance passenger trains has been a federal responsibility since 1971, they serve as necessary connectors to Am- trak’s successful short corridor routes, and that “a federally-funded national system is the best way to keep costs low, provide cus- tomer choices that build ridership, and de- velop economies of scale.” He further noted that since 2006, ridership on the long-dis- tance trains has increased by nearly 27 per cent, and that six of the 15 overnight routes have set new ridership records.
Conversation: Pros and Cons Herewith, the gist of a recent e-mailed dis- cussion (not part of the hearing) on this very topic: First: I wish Amtrak could be privatized. I know that’s naïve. [A mutual friend/rail ex- pert] told me three years ago it would never happen. Second: I firmly believe that if it were pos- sible to privatize Amtrak, it would have been done long ago [as is the case with those who would privatize publicly used roads and the Interstates.] First: You’re right, of course, but how can the feds run a railroad effectively — they haven’t so far, have they, for 43 years now. (Actually 42, but who’s counting?) Second: The reason much of the capital cost of the passenger train network is subsi- dized lies in the fact that the private rail- roads got out of the money-losing passenger business. If you tripled or quadrupled rider- ship, Amtrak would still not make a profit. It is the nature of the rail transportation busi-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68