Is Obama's High-Speed Plan the Best Use of Transportation Funds?

Going along with my last entry, here is an article that talks about the dire need this country is in for transportation options. However, it questions the fiscal responsibility of spending $8 billion on high-speed rail when our own local rail services are either dilapidated, underfunded or completely non-existent.

Amid great fanfare, the Obama administration last week announced plans to spend $13 billion in “seed money” for 13 high-speed rail projects around the country — $8 billion in stimulus funding now with a promise to seek $5 billion more over the next five years.

Among the projects being funded is the St. Louis-to-Chicago route, which will receive $1.1 billion. A relative pittance of $31 million went to Missouri to upgrade service between St. Louis and Kansas City.

With apologies to futurists, people in the construction industry and rail buffs, investing $13 billion (or even $8 billion) in passenger railroads is a little like building a bridge to the 19th century. It’s not enough money to make trains fast enough, attractive enough and affordable enough to attract sufficient passengers to operate without massive government subsidies.

This view puts us in company with the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and others whose views we don’t usually share. And perhaps we’re being short-sighted: It could be that 50 years from now, America will be glad it invested in high-speed rail.

But right now, there are far better, fairer and faster ways to stimulate the economy than spending $8 billion on the relatively affluent 1 percent of Americans who ride trains. Public transit immediately comes to mind. Missouri got $31 million to upgrade St. Louis-to-Kansas City service that served 150,000 passengers last year. The state also subsidizes those twice-daily trains with $5 million a year.

Meanwhile, the Metro transit service in St. Louis — which carried 353 times more passengers than the state’s two Amtrak trains last year — gets zero in state tax subsidies, though the Legislature last year appropriated $12 million in federal stimulus money to temporarily offset crippling transit cuts.

The $1.1 billion that Illinois received for the Chicago-to-St. Louis trains is enough to pay for about a fourth of what it would take to upgrade the service to handle 90-mile-an-hour trains along its entire route. The 110-mile train might cut the scheduled 5-hour, 40-minute travel time between the two cities by less than an hour.

[Click for the full article]

While I am a major supporter of bringing transportation to this country, it does appear that helping out local cities and states is more important than helping the 1% of Americans who currently utilize rail for their travel needs.

Comparing Transportation Systems.

Having spent the majority of my life in the Washington-DC area, I'm quite familiar with what it's like to have an efficient public transportation mode at your doorstop. While people certainly have their complaints with the METRO, it still stands as one of the cleanest, youngest, most efficient system in the country. The above image is a shrunken image of an interactive map that compares the five largest systems in the country. In order, they are:

• New York City (NYCT)
• Chicago (CTA)
• Washington DC (WMATA)
• San Francisco (BART)
• Boston (MBTA)

I, lovingly, refer to Boston's system (which is simply called the "T"), as the "dir-T". One can't lie, it's kind of gross. But I'd still take it over what's going on here in Columbus!

Report after report shows the dire need our country is in for more transportation options. For example, the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report last year giving our country's infrastructure a D average. Even with Obama's Reinvestment Act, there is still so much more this country needs in order to maintain competitive with the rest of the world. While I've never considered myself a fiscal democrat, this is one issue that I couldn't be more left on.

Think of it like this: the basic premise of an economy is the exchange of goods. In order for this exchange process to occur, there must be reliable, efficient networks of transportation. With a government that doesn't maintain its infrastructure, the possibility of this exchange dampens. As the rest of the world eclipses the US with their high-speed rail systems, for example, why would businesses want to continue with our outdated systems? Why focus a business strategy on utilizing rail to ship to Kansas City at an average speed of 33 MPH when goods can be shipped across China at over 100 MPH at a cheaper-per-mile rate?

So it's not just public transportation that needs investment--it's the grand picture of transportation. Fortunately, at least our current administration has a vision of achieving that picture. A vision, however. Not a reality.

High-Speed Rail Funds.

It's exam week, so I'm a bit tight on time. So this is the lazy version of an update--go read about high-speed rail funds via The New York Times!

Supply-Chain Management: Freight Planning.

Since I am a Logistics major, and since I study it incessantly, I thought maybe it's time to share with you a little about Freight Planning.

But first off, I'll let let the US Department of Transportation give you a great understanding of specifically what Supply-Chain Management is, and the importance of reliable, efficient modes of transportation.



They did a pretty good job, huh? Hopefully that gives you a visual understanding of how the supply-chain works. However, the supply-chain is more than just different vehicles utilized to carry products--it is the entire process that begins with raw materials and ends with the product in the consumer's hand. For a more formal definition:

Supply chain management (SCM) is the control of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. The ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory (with the assumption that products are available when needed).

So you see, the supply-chain is just not "boats-to-trucks-to-home", it is the entire system in place that brings goods to people. It includes the inventory that sits on a shelf, the raw materials necessary to produce a single unit, the people required to coordinate the creation and transportation of a product, the financial data necessary to continue to produce a product, so on and so forth.

Focusing specifically on Freight Planning, there are many, MANY questions to consider:

• Is the current system working?
  
• Is the current system under/over utilized?
  
• Does the current system provide enough capacity to hold future freight loads in 2035?
• What are the environmental impacts of rail freight versus truck freight?
• What are the costs associated with rail, truck and ocean freight?

That is simply the beginning. Currently in North America more than 6,500,000 trucks travel on our highways. Due to linking rail and ocean freight, most trucks travel only within 50 miles of their base (although there are many outliers to this generalization). By 2035, however, this number is expected to dramatically increase, causing usage to balloon to over 600 million miles per day. Looking at the maps below, you can see where the increase in highway congestion will appear:

2002 of Highway Congestion

2035 Projected Map of Highway Congestion


Can you even see the states of Ohio, Ilinois, Indiana or Kentucky? This unfortunate truth gives us three options: we can expand the highways, expand the runways or expand the railways. I, along with the rest of sensible people, recommend expanding the railways.

CSX is one of the largest private rail companies in North America. Historically rail has been unreliable, hence the shift to relying on trucks instead. However, companies are recognizing that rail is CHEAP--like, real cheap. For example, a CSX Train can take one ton of goods 427 miles on a single gallon of gas. Is that not insane? As a private company, they are constantly seeking ways to improve, and since 1980 they have improved efficiency 80%. In addition, rail is not only the cheaper way to go--it is the more environmentally friendly way, too! Look at this graph on the difference in carbon emissions between a trailer traveling 1000 miles on a truck and a 1000 miles on a train:



Clearly, rail provides better financial outcomes and environmental stewardship. However, rail moves slower--and it isn't as direct. It is impossible to route trains to be able to deliver all kinds of material right to your doorstep. That is without question. However, planning practices that support rail and provide for a larger system across our country would significantly reduce transportation costs for a company and cut out carbon emissions by a huge margin. In addition, AMTRAK could utilize the rails to provide better commuter service. And, if there is one thing about transportation, it is this--it goes hand-in-hand with economic development. Just as a coastal city cannot trade if there is no port to receive goods at, a city cannot grow without modes of transportation for people to utilize. It will become stagnant. It will lose it's attractiveness and luster. It will, essentially, be Columbus.

Reduced Costs, High Environmental Stewardship, Better Transportation Options and less congestion on highways? And people argue against this?

Now you know why I'm going into the private sector and not into planning.

The System Map of France.

At over 260,000 square miles, and with a population of over 65 million people, France is not a small country. For comparison, the total area of France is larger than Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina and West Virginia--combined.



And yet a country such as France can have a system map that rivals independently each one of these states. The mobility for the French, and for the rest of Europe, acts as a catalyst for more business opportunities, higher quality of life for the citizens and for sustainable infrastructure that doesn't need to be updated every 20 years. Why, oh why, does the United States rely so heavily on the automobile when other countries provide transportation options like this to their citizens which in the end raise the standard of living for everyone?

Just look at how the many nations of Western Europe have built a system together that mutually serves their part of the continent! Why is it that "the best country in the world" can't even get rail into the states like Texas with 34 million people, or in Ohio with 12 million, yet it can be done all over Portugal with 10 million?

I realize it just seems like I whine and complain incessantly about the void of transportation options in this country, but I just feel so helpless. Even with my rants, the people I am close with have no desire to demand change. Much less do the other 304 million people care! They are far more concerned with watching spectacles like Glee or American Idol than actually caring about the state of country that they call the greatest in the world.

More Rail Options in DC!

There are many, MANY reasons whyI do not like Ohio, but the lack of rail options is by far one of the biggest. Organizations like All Aboard Ohio are working hard to change this, but for now the reality still exists--if you're in Columbus, there ain't shit for transportation options. And this affects what Urban Planners define as "Transportation Behavior", which is the belief that your surrounding area,not your personal preference, will control which transportation mode you select. For example, you would be deemed insane if you were living in Westerville and decided to walk to work in Reynoldsburg. On the flip side, that's about the same distance between College Park, MD and Washington, DC--and thousands upon thousands of people use the bus and Metro system to make that journey. Why the change? Because frankly driving to DC is a pain in itself, and the parking fees are so astronomical that taking the metro is way more convenient! Here in Ohio we don't have those options, and because of this our transportation behavior is solely single-use automobile.

So, now get this. Virginia is about to launch rail service from Lynchburg to Washington DC, and it's part of a test to see how VA would benefit from more rail options. Why can't this happen here in the Buckeye State?

Virginia launches its first state-funded intercity passenger train Thursday from Lynchburg to Washington, a move that will enhance mass-transit options for Northern Virginia commuters and people across the state.

The new service is part of a $17.2 million, three-year pilot program the state is running, and fully funding, to determine whether enhanced rail service is viable in Virginia. The pilot program will offer two trains, one from Richmond and one from Lynchburg, that will travel to Union Station and then on to Boston. Service between the Virginia terminuses and Washington will include stops at some Virginia Railway Express stations; service between Washington and Boston will include stops in Philadelphia and New York.

However, the train set to run from Richmond will not launch until Dec. 15 because the necessary infrastructure improvements -- about $78 million worth -- are not complete, said Jennifer Pickett, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. She noted that $43 million in improvements were completed so that the Lynchburg service could begin.

"This is a pilot project. It is the beginning of something, not the end of something," said Sharon Bulova (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "We are going to see this grow."

It's sad that in one of the largest cities in the US (Columbus), there is no intercity rail service, nor is there any kind of commuter rail whatsoever. If Lynchburg, VA can get it (and St. Cloud, MN; Madison, WI; Portland, OR; etc.)...why can't we?

My Big Summer Adventure!

In just a few hours I begin my big summer adventure! Four days in Seattle, three days in Vancouver (!), a day in Tacoma, Washington and another day in Olympia...it's going to be great! I'm utterly stunned at the audacious journey. I'll be staying in hostels, meeting up with an co-intern I have never met, hanging out with a long-time blog buddy from LA that happens to be in Seattle, taking the AMTRAK up-and-down the coast...it's going to be so frickin' cool!

So I searched for a fun map to share with you. Nothing too cool came up. So, instead, I found a part of Seattle that has a ton of art galleries--and I thought I'd let you enjoy that instead. So here you go!



Oh, with art galleries galore like this...I think I am going to enjoy the Pacific Northwest. AND, to make it better, I checked the weather and for once luck is running in my favor--it looks like the entire week will be rain-free! Does that ever happen in Seattle or Vancouver? Regardless, I'm not complaining ;-).

So I'll leave you with a few photos. I hope you enjoy and I'll try my best to update along the way!


Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest. However, the entire metropolitan population size is almost identical to Minneapolis/St. Paul--something no one wants to admit!

Although a Peninsula, and not an Island, Vancouver maintains a level of density surrounding the Central Business District that only has one mirror in North America: New York City.


Vancouver is an anomaly of a city in that it balances dense city life with natural greenery and epic scenery that can be enjoyed by as a if you were in a serene field or in the center of Times Square.


So pretty! So dazzling! So great! Can't wait!

Time for a Big Adventure.

So I officially purchased my ticket to Seattle! I will be in the Pacific Northwest from August 24th until August 31st. I'll also be spending two days in Vancouver, which seems like a brilliant idea since Vancouver appears to be the kind of city I'd adore. (Vancouver Island is denser than Manhattan!)

Instead of shelling out tons of money for hotels that I'll only been sleeping a few hours in, I'm taking a little adventure. I'm going to try CouchSurfing. Have you heard of this? I have friends who swear by it and have done it for years, but I always thought it was kind of risky and strange.

CouchSurfing is a real simple complex--people go on the website looking for a place to stay. People in cities around the world set up profiles indicating whether they can host a person or if they want to visit a new city...and that's it. You set up a connection, and people open up their homes to you.

It's kind of scary, so I'm going to try and establish some relationships now. After two months of e-mailing, I'm sure it will be like friends visiting instead of me sleeping on a random couch. And, if it turns out not to work so well, I'll just budget to have the money for a last-minute hotel if need be.

Anyway, so I fly to Seattle, spend Mon-Tues-Wed there, then take the train to Vancouver on Thursday. (I hear that this train ride is GORGEOUS!) I'll then return to Seattle on Saturday and leave early Monday morning. I won't be renting a car because, well, it's a waste of money. Hopefully I'll be able to find a fun place to rent a bike. AND I sure hope it doesn't rain the whole time!

Now I just need to start learning everything about the area. I did this with my Minneapolis trip, so when I got there I really was able to maximize my time since I already knew my way around.

Any Seattle people out there? Do you have any suggestions for things to do? :-)

Fast Train.

Wheeeee!!!!!

(Read: Too Lazy for Real Update.)

Baghdad To Build Subway.

Oh, I wish I hadn't seen this article. I really wish I hadn't.

BAGHDAD – Iraq plans to build a subway in Baghdad to help cut pollution and ease traffic on the city's chronically clogged streets.

Baghdad Mayor Sabir al-Issawi said in statement released Monday that Iraq's Cabinet has earmarked $3 billion for the project.

The subway is the first in Baghdad and will have two lines.

One would run 11 miles from Shiite-dominated Sadr City in the east to the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad.

The second line would be cover 13 miles and link the mixed neighborhoods of central Baghdad to the primarily Sunni western suburbs. Both lines will have 20 stations.

Al-Issawi did not provide a timeline for the project.

Explain to me why we invade a country, spend over $1 Trillion on an unnecessary war, rebuild their Government and now we have to watch them introduce subways into their cities?! Here in The United States, the Chicago El routinely has trains derail, Cleveland's Rapid is thirsting for people to ride it, commuter trains crash in LA, Minneapolis has to fight to get a second light rail line approved, Columbus won't even let a $100 million Streetcar be built...and yet Baghdad can pull it off. BAGHDAD! The city that years ago was in utter turmoil, the city that today still has frequent bombings and mass-murder in the streets, the city that has thousands of troops planted there just to maintain the peace, the city that for quite some time didn't even have running watter. THEY can pull it off yet America can't?

*bangs head against wall*

I'm moving to Canada.

California High-Speed Rail.

This would be the first of its kind in America. Now, not to squash any hopes here, but look at High-Speed Rail in Europe. It's far superior.


Click Image to Enlage.

One day I'd love to see America like this. Is it likely? Probably not. But it still can't hurt to hope.

(Via Trains for America and Changing World)

Transportation in Japan.

This is an American City Planner's nightmare. In Japan, they literally have pushers to shove people into the over-crowded subways. Insane.

A Great Day For Transportation!

Alright duckies, it's getting late and I don't have time to separate these into different posts...so here you go, all at once!

High-Speed Rail Coming to California!

Steel-Rail Transit Coming to Hawaii!

Passenger Rail Gains Favor in Congress!

A great day for transportation, indeed.

Capitalism Wins Again!

Remember that thing called "The Space Race"? Although not everyone believes we won it, in the minds of the sane we did. And what a feat that was! Our country made it to the moon first. Americans were the triumphant innovators of the day! We sure showed those nasty Communists that Capitalism always wins! Only problem is Russia might beat us at something else, something far more important--transportation here on Earth.

Spain to help build Russian railways.
Russian Railways is seeking Spanish expertise in a multi-billion dollar investment project. Spain is ready to help build high-speed railways in mountainous areas and supply trains with an automatic gauge changing system.

Welcomed by the King of Spain and the country’s top officials, the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, went to Madrid as an old friend and a trusted partner.

Russian Railways has a multi-billion dollar investment plan for rail infrastructure - a vital project in times of economic turmoil, according to Yakunin.

“The problem is not only the liquidity of banks, but also the support of the demand – the market, the real economy. So, because of that, we consider it is absolutely essential to keep the infrastructural investment programmes in tact,” he says. Russian authorities are considering co-operation with Spain’s INECO to build a high speed railway that will carry passengers from Moscow to Sochi in less than 24 hours.

As for international cargo, even high-speed trains have to cope with a variation of track gauge among different countries. Spain has a solution - Talgo carriages that can alter the gauge on the go.Mario Oria, Talgo’s export and marketing manager says: “We are hoping that the Russian market becomes the biggest in that share. Ideally, we’d be talking about 20-30 % of overall sales.”

Talgo’s trains can boost cargo volumes from Russia to the EU countries and significantly cut delivery times. Russia has already finished testing the Talgo system and is likely to buy the first ten trains, worth 15 million euros each, as soon as 2011.

Wow, if Moscow gets High-Speed Rail before Los Angeles or San Francisco, I think Ronald Reagan will dig himself out of his grave and begin writing an apology to the American people. (As if he shouldn't already do that, but that's another story...)

(Via Trains for America)

In Terms Us Logisticians Like!

News from "The New South"!

I love Charlotte, North Carolina. If you haven't been there, it's a fun town with tons of bars and crazy southern partiers, a great downtown (which they call "uptown"), a beautiful skyline, fantastic weather and also is home to some of the country's largest banks (Bank of America, Wachovia, etc.). It's growing as fast as Phoenix, Columbus and Minneapolis, and is one of the few cities that hasn't been hit too hard from the mortgage crisis.

On top of that, after only 9 months of operation, Charlotte's brand new light rail system is almost at ridership projections... for 2025. Looks like people are finally getting with the program!

(Streetcar? Columbus? Anyone?)

My Fabulous Return!

Sorry for my absence, I've been moving and I have not had internet since Wednesday! Regular updates will be coming back...promise...

I'll take this time to say that I'll be blogging from Chicago and possibly Milwaukee the week of September 15th - 19th. I'm really excited because I am trying to do the cheapest vacation I've ever done. First off, I'm using the Megabus to travel between Columbus and Chicago. The cost? $30.50 roundtrip. From there, I'll be staying with friends, and the train between Milwaukee and Chicago is only $18 each way for students with Student Advantage. On top of that, I'll be checking out free museums, hanging with friends in coffee shops and utilizing the El to get around. My goal is to spend under $200 for the entire trip....think it's doable?

I'll be writing about the whole experience, and I'll see if cheap vacations are just as fun as regular vacations! Expect a full review of the Megabus, too, since if it's good it may be something you want to consider. I mean, a $30 ticket to one of the greatest cities in the world is already something to holler about!

The Race America Doesn't Want to Win.

America is in a race, she just doesn't know it. It's a race to see where America will be in twenty years. It's a race against herself...and currently she's losing. It's a transportation race, and right now the question that every Americans needs to be asking is--when will America wake up, pick up the pace and start running again?

You probably have noticed that there are transportation problems in this country: Congestion in LA is a horrendous nightmare. Road rage is out of control in Miami. Bridges in Minneapolis are collapsing. And New York City is charging you a fee if you drive into the city (though this is a good thing, I swear). Point is, America knows she has problems with her transportation networks, she just doesn't care. AMTRAK is so poorly underfunded and has been since it became nationalized in 1971. The Government gives the Federally owned AMTRAK less than $1 Billion per year; our friends in congress give the private flying industry over $14 Billion per year. Something is wrong with that, isn't it?

Fortunately, things are changing. Two bills have been proposed and passed: HR 6003 and S. 294. Both bills have passed with a veto-proof majority, meaning that although Mr. George W. Bush has threatened to can the project, he won't be able to. Currently the bill is going into conference committee, which is the last step before Dubya signs it--which he will, and must. These bills effectively shell out $14 Billion for new transportation mediums. One of the recipients will be right here at home, The Ohio Hub Project.



This project will give birth to the dreams of many homegrown Ohioans--a high-speed rail that travels through all the big C's: Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. Did you ever hear your grandparents talking about this one? (I know I have. They'd be sitting with the family, starry-eyed, dreaming of how glamorous and romantic it could be to just take the train from Cleveland to Columbus.) The plan will be to connect Ohio to already existing rails, going as far north as Ontario and as south as Southern Indiana. The proposal is for high-speed, 110 MPH trains that would make it possible to go from Cincy to Cleveland in 2.5 hours. By connecting the other rail lines in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, it would be possible to get from Columbus to Chicago in 4 hours, from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis in 3.5 hours, and from Cleveland to Detroit in less than 2 hours. (Though this connectivity is part of a later phase).

Why is it so important that we switch to rail? The environmental impact of our cars is certainly nothing to sweep under the rug, but if self-interest is what sways your opinion, than consider that high-speed rail is safer than flying, easier than driving, cheaper than any alternative and is a perfect travel option for citycenter-to-citycenter business travel. Also, since 30% of flights don't leave on time, an efficient and brand new rail line will be a hell of a lot more reliable than the failing airline industry.

The options are this--expand the highways, expand the runways or expand the railways. We are a growing country and we're projected to have 404 million people by 2050; what are we gonna do with all of those people? How are we going to move them around? Certainly we've seen the failures of trying to run a country with "everyone has at least 1 car" city planning, and it's blown up in our face: we've had more people die on our highways than we have in all of our wars--combined. Our country cannot continue to function like this. Support high-speed rail and any initiative that promotes improving transportation options. We cannot continue running in a race we admittedly would like to lose.