About time!

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I’m sure you’ve heard that a near miracle has occurred.   No, not the miracle of Chanuka that let the menora stay lit for eight days. I’m talking about the transportation bill that finally passed both houses of Congress- and actually funds the program for more than a few weeks.  Yes, indeed, we have a FIVE year transportation bill.

Interestingly, not only do we have a transportation bill that will let our communities actually use the funds- since a ten or fifteen week extension is not sufficient with which one can build a road or highway- but this bill provides a whole new way of managing the US passenger rail system.

(By the way, this bill is 1300 pages- or some 50% larger than PPACA- Obamacare- that certain folks decried as ridiculously long.  Of course, this bill also includes funding and authorization for the Export-Import Bank.  Like that really is a transportation issue.  But, let’s not forget we’ve also had another breakthrough since i wrote (but didn’t yet post) this piece.  There’s also a complete year’s budget that passed both Houses-  that climbs in at 2009 pages- with a 233 page addendum.  Ah, consistency of logic and polemics- NOT!)

Transportation Act of 2015
PL 114-21 . Active Link to the Actual Bill

First, a little explanation.   Amtrak is the “national” passenger system.  Sounds great, right?  Except, in reality, it means that 90% of the system is used by virtually nobody.  So, it costs a fortune to send trains, man stations, and take reservations for the bulk of the system.   Except for the Northeast Corridor (that’s read DC to Boston) and to a much lesser degree the California coastal routes, the passenger density doesn’t afford the chance for system breakeven- or even just losing twice the cost of running the railroad system.

As a matter of fact, 1/3 of all Amtrak’s passengers use just three stations- Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City.  Moreover, ¾ (actually 77%) of the mass transit between Washington (DC) and New York City is via Amtrak.  (Consider the fact that the Shuttle- the planes that flew between New York and DC- kept Eastern Airlines in business forever.  That air transit route is proffered by Delta and American.  But, given 9-11, and the philosophy of air carriers, it may be lucrative for the airlines, but it is but a shadow of its former grandeur and utilization.)

As stated parenthetically above,   the on-time airline performance for the air corridor renders the purported 1 hour trip one of the cruelest jokes of all   Those delays don’t take into account that one can no longer just walking in to the terminal and take the next flight (which is what made the Shuttle the most profitable route of all the air systems), one now has to deal with the TSA, one is required at least a 2 hour queue within the airport, and MUST have a prior reservation.   Hence, the great shift of passengers from air to rail transit within the corridor.

Given those facts, it should not surprise you that the Northeast Corridor is the only section of Amtrak that generates a profit- $400 million a year in operational profits.  And, this new transportation bill means that profit won’t be squandered on the rest of the system that is a yawning vacuum (or bottomless pit)- but those funds can now be used just to maintain and upgrade the Corridor itself.

Which means we no longer have to rely on (the lack of common sense of) Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey who balked at creating the desperately needed new train tunnel under the Hudson River.   While this tunnel is important to Amtrak, it is also vital for New Jersey Transit (NJT), which brings Jersey citizens to and from New York for their employment.  But, Christie wouldn’t raise taxes and was desperate to mask his budget deficit.  So, he cut spending money where it was needed to use it where his reelection chances would garner the benefit.   In the meantime,  the overworked tunnels (there are two) have been allowed to deteriorate so badly that train traffic to and from Manhattan suffers routinely.

There is even discussion about building new routes to cut the congestion within the corridor.  Which is not only because of passenger rail, but because Amtrak shares track lines with commercial rail- and, on those routes owned by Norfolk Southern or CSX, the commercial traffic has priority, to boot.

One can only hope when the new tunnel is built- and we can improve the rail bed itself- the concept of high speed rail in this dense corridor may become a reality.  After all, the Acela was supposed to provide less than 2 hour transit between DC and New York- not the 195+ minutes it currently delivers.

Progress.  At last. Maybe.

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