Search Results for: rail

Rail Transit Contributes to Global Warming

By | | Transportation
39 Comments

Update: Fixed links to paper.

Most light-rail lines use as much or more energy per passenger mile as an average SUV, and many emit more pounds of CO2 per passenger mile than the average automobile. Moreover, the energy efficiency and CO2 emissions of automobiles are steadily improving, while the energy efficiency of both bus and rail transit are declining. Thus, cities that want to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions would do better to encourage auto drivers to buy more fuel-efficient cars than to build rail transit lines.

Those are the main conclusions of the Antiplanner’s new Cato paper, “Does Rail Transit Save Energy or Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?” While some rail transit operations are energy and CO2 efficient, the energy and CO2 costs of construction overwhelm any savings. Thus, from an environmental viewpoint, rail transit is almost always a bad investment.

Continue reading →

Miami’s Rail Folly

By | | News commentary
6 Comments

Back in 1984, Miami opened a 20-mile elevated rail line. The line was so expensive, and ridership so poor, that the city never did much to expand the line (though it is getting in line for $1.4 billion in federal handouts for proposed expansion).

Flickr photo by .Zickie.

Now the railcars the run on the line are worn out. The transit system was supposed to overhaul the cars nearly a decade ago, but deferred it for lack of funds. Now it has to choose between spending $300 million on repairs or $350 million on a new fleet.
With cialis on line purchase try that storefront such a high percentage, it is important to know what types of pregnancy pains you could encounter during your nine months of pregnancy. In fact, your lifestyle can also cause and increase the chances of Erectile Dysfunction. drugshop link viagra online in kanada Most men experience difficulty with cheapest viagra tabs their penis becoming hard or staying firm even fails to reach to the climax during sexual union. Bathmate Hercules: This pump uses patented hydro-pump technology to create a vacuum around viagra sample overnight the penis.

Flickr photo by ASurroca.

The Antiplanner suggests a third alternative: junk the system. Ridership has grown by a mere 26 percent since 1990. During the same time period, regional bus ridership has grown by 69 percent. Miami transit riders would do a lot better if some of that $300 or so million were put into bus improvements, Miami taxpayers would be glad to see the rest left in their pockets, and Miami sightseers would enjoy seeing more of the sky.

Rail Transit: Pay Now, Pay Later

By | | News commentary, Planning Disasters, Transportation
15 Comments

Denver’s 119-mile FasTracks rail transit project, approved by voters in 2004, will cost at least $1.4 billion more than voters were told, according to the project’s 2007 annual report. Moreover, a revenue shortfall means that Denver’s Regional Transit District’s (RTD) ability to sell bonds to pay for construction will fall $400 million short of expectations.

Although RTD blames rising steel prices for the overrun, in fact a large share of the additional cost is due to RTD’s own inane decisions. The original plan called for running Diesel-powered trains from downtown to the airport, but RTD decided to spend another $400 million electrifying the route. RTD also changed routes on the North Metro line, adding at least $100 million to its costs.

Continue reading →

Raleigh Rail Rises from the Dead

By | | News commentary, Transportation
8 Comments

Two years ago, the idea of building a $1 billion rail system in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area died when the FTA said not enough people would ride it to justify federal funding. But now, a new proposal has been made to build a similar rail system, only this one would cost twice as much money for twice as many miles of rail.

Because, as everyone knows, if building 28 miles of rail line is a waste of money, then building 56 miles makes perfect sense.

Proponents are counting on getting a quarter of the money from Washington and a quarter from the state of North Carolina. Of course, at a mere $35 million a mile, $2 billion won’t be enough to build the proposed 56 miles of light rail, not when most light-rail lines are coming in at $50 million a mile. But they’ll worry about that later.

Who are the “experts” who came up with this plan? To give you a hint, the chair of the citizens advisory committee is a pathologist at Duke University. That certainly makes one eligible to be an amateur transit expert qualified to spend $2 billion of someone else’s money.

For affected individuals von Willebrand cialis for cheap price disease is a mild bleeding disorder well controlled. It also improves functioning of viagra on line lungs and kidneys. Bluze capsules: It is try this buy viagra pills an excellent blend of natural herbs. Avoid by using cock ring substitutes; pfizer viagra 100mg rubber bands, binder clips, and vices, for instance, bring about too much constriction. Continue reading →

High-Speed Rail to Where?

By | | Transportation
8 Comments

The state of Minnesota is seriously considering spending $400 million on a high-speed rail line from Minneapolis to Duluth. Duluth? Come on. The Duluth-Superior urbanized area only has about 120,000 people. Duluth isn’t even a part of the Midwest regional rail plan, an ambitious plan to run high-speed passenger trains between Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

A new study says that the Duluth line will cost a bit more than anticipated — $400 million instead of the $350 million estimated a couple of month ago. But proponents insist that the line will generate billions in economic development, reduce congestion, and be environmentally friendly. Yeah, right.

Continue reading →

Is Dulles Rail Dead or Alive?

By | | News commentary, Transportation
21 Comments

Dulles Rail All But Dead shrills the Washington Post. The idea of extending Washington’s MetroRail system 23 miles to (and slightly beyond) Dulles Airport has been around for years, but its huge expense — at least $5 billion or more than $200 million per mile — has been daunting.

To provide local matching funds, northern Virginia counties recently created a huge transportation authority that would tax home sales, hotel rooms, rental cars, and auto repairs to pay for local road and transit projects. It was generally understood that a large share of the authority’s money would go to Dulles rail, but local officials were counting on federal funding for at least half the cost of the project.

Only 12 percent of air travelers who fly out of National Airport use MetroRail to get to and from the airport. No other airport rail line in the country carries more than 8 percent of air travelers.
Flickr photo by sethladd.

Continue reading →

Should Kansas City Build Light Rail?

By | | Transportation
8 Comments

I am in KC today helping the Show-Me Institute educate people about the benefits and costs of light rail. Long-time readers will recall that Kansas City voters approved a light-rail plan after having rejected such plans six times. The Show-Me Institute is releasing a report on the subject by the Antiplanner which you can no doubt find on their web site.

In a nutshell, the voter-approved plan is totally infeasible, as it calls for taking money from the bus system to build rail and presumes that the federal government will pay half the cost — which, the FTA says, it won’t if it means reducing bus service. Plus the current cost projections are 50 percent more than the costs initially projected by the line’s backers.

Continue reading →

Milwaukie Light Rail to Cost (gasp, choke) $1.25 billion

By | | Transportation
6 Comments

Actually, $1.25 billion is the low estimate for a light-rail line from Portland to Milwaukie, Oregon. Depending on the routing, it could be as high as $1.4 billion, not counting cost overruns.

For those of you not familiar with Portland, Milwaukie is not some distant suburb. It is immediately adjacent to Portland. I used to commute (by bike) through Milwaukie on my way from Oak Grove to Portland, and it was 8 miles to downtown. (I probably also rode faster than the light rail will go.)

Continue reading →

Sticking It to Light Rail

By | | Transportation
12 Comments

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which President Bush signed last month, is exactly the kind of top-down, centralized planning that the Antiplanner opposes. The act bans incandescent bulbs after 2014, mandates that auto fleets achieve an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, and requires that biofuels be substituted for at least 36 billion gallons of gasoline (about one-quarter of today’s consumption) by 2022.

While many auto opponents have congratulated themselves that the new law “sticks it to Detroit,” the reality is just the opposite. While Detroit may or may not be able to keep up with the Japanese in building fuel-efficient cars, the real effect of an auto-industry wide standard is that it raises the goal posts for people’s fantasized alternatives to the automobile. In essence, this is sticking it to light rail.

Continue reading →

Light Rail Follies #5: An Objective Panel

By | | Transportation
4 Comments

The Honolulu city council wants to build a rail line. Yet many people in Honolulu think this would be a waste of money, and they are pushing for high-occupancy toll lanes, that can be used by autos and bus-rapid transit, instead. So, to cover its you-know-what, the city council plans to create an “objective panel” of five advisers who will review the alternatives and select the final plan.

Who will be on the panel? A list of people being considered includes a vice president of Bechtel, a former vice president of Siemens, a former Parsons Brinckerhoff planner, and numerous employees or former employees of various transit agencies, nearly all of which run some form of rail transit.

Continue reading →