When Wisconsin and Ohio elected governors who promised to cancel high-speed rail, Secretary LaHood took their money away before the governors-elect even took office. But when Florida’s governor cancelled that state’s high-speed rail, LaHood gave local governments a week to see if they could form a consortium able to take on the project.
Why didn’t LaHood make the same offer to cities in Wisconsin and Ohio? I am sure there are enough rail advocates in Madison and Milwaukee that it was at least worth considering.
I’ve maintained that Florida is the linch pin of the high-speed rail program. California’s program is too expensive to complete without 80 to 90 percent federal funding. The moderate-speed rail programs in other states will only demonstrate that the U.S. has a pathetic passenger rail system compared with France, China, and Japan. Florida could have completed the Tampa-to-Orlando route while Obama was still in office (assuming he wins reelection), leading other states to want their own projects out of envy.
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If Scott cancelled it, however, it would kill the entire program except Illinois. Wisconsin and Ohio, by comparison, were just bit players. In taking money away from Wisconsin and Ohio, LaHood was sending a message to other states: play along or you will lose federal funds. (Remember Kasich, at least, had asked LaHood if Ohio could keep the money for other projects.) But LaHood didn’t dare do this for Florida, because the whole program succeeds or fails based on what happens in Florida.
I don’t think local governments in central Florida will be able to rise to LaHood’s challenge. The deadline ended today and Governor Scott remains adamant against the train. But LaHood’s offer demonstrates what I’ve said all along: the administration is making decisions about high-speed rail based on politics, not on what our transportation systems really need.
Update: Secretary LaHood has extended the deadline another week, even though Governor Scott says his position remains unchanged: he’ll accept high-speed rail funds only if there is no “risk to Florida’s taxpayers,” i.e., LaHood promises that the federal government will cover all capital and operating cost overruns.
Sound analysis, Randal. I think I would read it the same way. Despite being a proponent of the concept of HSR, even American HSR, the outcome will be severely embarrassing if political games are the only things making these kinds of choices. I was never really a fan of the Tampa/Orlando proposal anyway–how many daily Disney-goers are there? With you on California’s proposal as well. They’re out of money and will be for a while.
I think the NEC is the most feasible and realistic. Yes, I know the $117 billion price tag that Amtrak released, but unless I read the proposal wrong, it was for a 4-track system with an elaborate service arrangement of express trains and more “local” options. In any case, it seemed like a plan that could be scaled back in cost and scope while still providing a good service. We shall see.
Not to change the subject, but did this blog travel back in time yesterday? Several comments vanished…
just for the record, regarding your references to the Wisconsin rail-dedicated money…
Walker also did try to have it made available for other projects. (I believe he wrote a letter to LaHood asking to use it for roads and bridges)
While Walker wasn’t technically in office in Nov and Dec, he might as well have been, given the kind of interactions he was having. so there isn’t much value is the fact that WI’s money was retracted before he was sworn in.
It would have been great to have more time to discuss options for keeping the $800M. The state was on the hook for $7M/yr. Not much in a DOT budget, considering that is the cost of resurfacing about 15 mi of highway. I also heard a lot of talk about that figure even being erased by other funding sources. But no sense in getting into that now. As current events are showing, Walker isn’t one to change his mind.
The Antiplanner posted:
I don’t think local governments in central Florida will be able to rise to LaHood’s challenge.
The only reasonably large-scale rail transit system that I can think of (in the United States) which is directly run by a municipal government is San Francisco Municipal Railway.
And even in San Francisco, the larger-scale regional BART (heavy rail (third rail subway)) and Caltrain (a real railroad) systems are run by independent authorities.
I have a hard time imagining any local elected officials that would want to take on the risk or expense of running a passenger railroad. There are certainly some elected officials that cheer-lead for various forms of passenger rail transport schemes and systems, but they don’t usually have to figure out how to operate and fund them.