I Hate To Say “I Told You So”, But …
A couple of posts back, I reported speculation that the recent crash of a Metrolink commuter train near Los Angeles could have fallout that goes beyond trying to figure out what happened and taking corrective action. The concern was that the freight railroads would use that accident as an excuse to resist any increase in passenger traffic over track they own.
Well, sho’ nuff! Folks in Texas are agitating for a new commuter rail service linking Austin, the State Capital, with San Antonio, a distance of about 80 miles. The scenario under discussion would have passenger trains using existing track that’s owned by Union Pacific with the railroad laying new track to the east so freight not destined for either Austin or San Antonio could bypass both cities. That would reduce the volume of freight on the Austin-San Antonio stretch and make room for the commuter trains.
Not so fast, pardner! Union Pacific honcho James Young has tossed cold water on the plan, saying it would cost too much to relocate the freight line and he doesn’t want passenger trains running on the existing track. “Freight and passengers don’t mix,” he said.
Sure they do. Amtrak is running on track owned by the freight railroads everywhere in the country except the stretch along the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, which Amtrak owns. It’s not ideal, and the freight railroads hate it, but it is being done.
Unhappily, until moving people becomes as important as transporting new cars and appliances and coal and lumber, those commuters will have to continue grinding it out in bumper-to-bumper traffic every day, wasting expensive gasoline and productive hours.
So whaddaya think? Time for this country to get serious about transportation? And energy? And productivity? And quality time with family?
Jim, definitely and also past time for a hard look at how people and goods move in this country. I think the term “holistic” is too often used, but it would seem to apply in this case.
Here in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, we are acutely aware of transportation issues owing largely to the four (Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth [state-owned] and the new Maersk lines terminal on Craney Island)seaports, the region’s bisection by the James River, Hampton Roads, and the Chesapeake Bay and “development.”
All of which combine to make travel here very interesting. We do have two Amtrak terminals, one in Newport News and one in Williamsburg for which I’m grateful.
I should add we have the headquarters of Norfolk Southern here. NS operates the Lamberts Point coal terminal in Norfolk just as CSX operates a coal terminal in Newport News.
While the coal comes in by train, containers come and go largely by truck. To get on I-64, especially in the summer tourist season, can be a lesson in frustration if not anger management!
So, yes, it’s past time to kick some rice bowls and figure out something in the way of a national master plan with achievable goals and realistic investment on this topic.