In February, Amtrak proudly opened what it claimed was the first high-speed rail line outside of the Northeast Corridor. An investment of $32 million in train control and signaling systems now allow it to run trains the 80 miles between Kalamazoo, Michigan and Porter, Indiana, at 110 mph. Since trains were previously operating at 95 mph, this improvement saves travelers 7 minutes.
Barely a month later, Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks east of Kalamazoo, issued orders slowing Amtrak trains from 79 to 25-30 mph. This will add 45 to 90 minutes to the trip time between Chicago and Detroit.
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Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me. Taxpayers lose a lot of money making trivial improvements to a transportation system that hardly anyone uses. The few people who use it are subjected to delays and lengthy trip times in spite of the spending.
I honestly assume that no body in the Transportation business actually rides transit. If Al Gore won’t take the train, what hope do we have for everybody else.
The Antiplanner wrote:
Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me. Taxpayers lose a lot of money making trivial improvements to a transportation system that hardly anyone uses. The few people who use it are subjected to delays and lengthy trip times in spite of the spending.
I respectfully disagree (in part).
The owner(s) of the upgraded tracks benefit. And even if one of the owners (in this case NS) is happy running its freight trains at 25 MPH, I am confident they would be even happier running them at 40 or 60 MPH (usually the maximum for freight trains in the United States), especially if federal taxpayers are funding upgrades to the trackage in question.
The big railroad companies have to weigh the potential risk and cost of derailment against the near zero benefit of delivering the rolling stock and their cargo earlier. Most cargos delivered by rail are not time sensitive. Time sensitive cargos are more likely to be delivered via air or tractor trailer vehicles on the highways.
I would add that diesel electric locomotives are most efficient operating at steady speeds over any distance. A higher top speed is only cost effective over longer distances where accelerating is less the part of the run than cruising. A lower top speed is better with more frequent stops, since you spend more of the run accelerating and decelerating.
The only goods really on time sensitivity scales are perishable items like dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and meat. But we’ve had refrigerated rail cars since before the 1950’s. And in the end they only go to one typical destination, often a distribution center to be trucked to grocery stores. Of course the rail company benefits at your expense.
Agreed that most cargo carried on railroads is not especially time-sensitive (though there are exceptions, like this train).
But increased train speeds means lowered labor costs, and it also can mean that the rolling stock (in particular the locomotives) can be profitably used elsewhere.
Almost all cargo is time sensitive due to the costs of equipment and cargo held as inventory-in-transit. One of the higest priority trains out my way is a rock move from a quarry to a paving company. Although rock is very low value ($7 per ton), the cost of equipment is astronomical in comparison to the profit to be made which pays for the equipment. To earn its keep, the cars must move quickly from load-out to unloading and return.
Perhaps the better question here is how many passengers (per weekday or per day, not annually) will derive some benefit from the $32 million expenditure?
Count on the Anti-Planner to be behind the times.
The slow orders were a negotiating tactic by Norfolk Southern to get the money released to it to pay for the repairs. The line is in the process of being sold to the State of Michigan and Amtrak, so NS is only doing the bare minimum for maintenance needed by its own service, rather like a homeowner trying to sell a house upon which the home inspection has already been signed off and agreed upon. Rather than spend its own money to repair a line for which public money is available for the rehabilitation, and on which there is an agreement of purchase and sale, it sat back and let nature take its course to try to speed the transactions along, a tactic which worked.
The slow-orders have actually already been repaired as of several days ago using available public funds from the purchasing agency (FRA, MIDOT and Amtrak), and the speed restrictions lifted.
Negotiations and planning continue for the sale of the line and its reconstruction by Amtrak to 110 mph standards, which along with the Englewood Flyover in Chicago and new crossovers in Indiana will remove 50-60 minutes from the train schedules between Detroit and Chicago.
NS’ policy regarding a maximum 79 mph speed is not a hard and fast rule either. NS is willing to entertain a higher speed of 90 mph or more where the entity desiring faster passenger speeds will pay for the capacity, extra maintenance, and signalling and equipment revisions. Negotiations for this very thing are underway with NS in North Carolina. NS is also more than happy to operate on lines owned by others with speeds over 79 mph. NS has operated on Amtrak’s Michigan line and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and Harrisburg Line for many years without issues, despite top speeds between 90 and 135 mph.
The Michigan line is used by well over 500,000 people per year, and will be used by many more once its reconstruction and re-equipping is complete. Average ridership per train is around 230. The reconstruction program is a popular bi-partisan supported project with primary benefits going to the major users of the line – small town and suburban residents between Kalamazoo and Dearborn with limited or no other public transportation options, and travellers from elsewhere headed to those places.
“…$32 million in train control…saves travelers 7 minutes.”
It’s the same rubric used in all areas of government planning. The decisions are political, not economic.
Consider: A national park X receives $X million for a new visitor center. Given the visitation to national park X, the cost per visitor is $X hundred.
Same applies for public schools. Textbooks touted for supposed academic gains were purchased for $X thousand. Now they sit on shelves and collect dust.
This is government economic planning, and its seven deadly sins are that it wastes resources, discourages employees from doing a good job, inhibits customer involvement, suppresses information, stifles innovation, creates conflict, and harms the poor.
Though roads are about politics, not economics for that matter.
Kalamazoo is comparable to cities like Normal, Ill. and Brunswick, Maine, which have seen significant growth and an increase in private investment in their downtowns as a result of high-speed rail projects, Szabo said.
I would dare him to prove (or even suggest a reason) that Normal, IL and Brunswick, ME have seen significant growth and an increase in private investment as a result of high-speed rail projects. Why on Earth would a faster train spur economic development? It’s not as if these burgs had no transportation alternatives prior to the train’s being sped up by 10 mph or so.
Craig, Brunswick, Maine is excellently served by a freeway I-295, which in turns connects to I-95 (the Maine Turnpike) at both ends.
There’s also Hwy US 1 through the town.