Posted on 06/11/2010 7:43:40 AM PDT by Willie Green
America has a “waiting problem.”
Think about the time you spend waiting in traffic jams… at the doctor/dentist’s office… at restaurants… at the gas station.
And how about the six months of your life spent waiting at traffic lights? Or the five years you’ll spend just waiting in lines at retail stores, the post office, DMV, etc. (Early buyers of Apple’s products likely spend far more.)
And according to Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Policy at the Reason Foundation, the average air traveler now spends two to three hours waiting at the airport. Granted, much of that is due to more rigorous security screening – time that is generally well spent – but air travel delays and traffic jams are only going to get worse, as more people take to the skies and roads.
In short, we wait an average of 45 to 62 minutes every single day. And that’s less time spent with family and friends, or doing other more productive, enjoyable activities.
Other countries have already recognized the problem and have addressed it for years. But the United States has failed miserably. So how can we improve our “waiting efficiency?” There’s a solution…
A Great Idea… Until Henry Ford Drove it Off the Rails
It’s called high-speed passenger rail.
I’ll get to the high-speed part in a moment. First, a quick overview of the U.S. rail service today.
Much of America’s freight still travels by rail. In fact, more than two billion tons plowed across the country in 2007 (the latest data available). It’s the transport mainstay for coal, lumber and other heavy industrial products and machinery.
Passenger rail service in the United States dates all the way back to 1830 when the “Best Friend of Charleston” – the first steam-powered train – traveled six miles with 141 passengers on board.
Boston, Baltimore and other major cities quickly established major railroads, due to the lack of river access to U.S. inland areas. And the idea of being able to travel, regardless of weather conditions – and at high speeds, too – was a big hit with most Americans.
As a result, passenger rail service soared…
But then Henry Ford came along and changed the playing field. When he introduced the mass-produced automobile in the following decade, rail travel fell by 18%.
And today?
700 Miles and a Tank of Gas Later…
Fast-forward to 2010…
You’d think that in today’s high-tech age, we could combine speed with efficiency and wouldn’t spend so long waiting. But that’s not the case. And with transportation, it’s an increasingly expensive wait for most Americans.
Take the average car, for instance. Fully loaded with five passengers, it gets about 100 passenger-miles-per-gallon (PMPG).
And according to the Department of Energy, the average passenger jet only gets about 36 PMPG. Of course, the trade-off there is speed.
But how about that speed/low-cost equation? Especially for regional travel? Europe and Asia already manage it. And we can here, too.
The answer lies in the method that squeezes out 700 PMPG.
You got it… high-speed trains. You can string their “cars” together and carry far more passengers than the average commercial jetliner. And these trains blast along at speeds of nearly 250 MPH.
So which company is behind this rapid rail transportation?
This Company Feels the Need… the Need for Speed
Take a quick jaunt around the globe and you’ll see this company’s trains in use all over the place…
The company we’re talking about is Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) – the largest manufacturer of high-speed trains in the world.
Its Valero high-speed train technology is the world’s most successful. Siemens currently has 160 trains in operation and hundreds more on order.
And for speed-hungry America, it’s the perfect fit…
“All Aboard!”
Siemens is pushing hard to get its Valero high-speed train technology widely adopted across the U.S. rail network. Interest is high, too. There are several high-speed rail projects in the works…
Critics argue that few people will ride the high-speed rails. But frankly, that’s a myopic view. They’re not counting on expensive gasoline, because cheap gas is a thing of the past.
As if further proof were needed, U.S. politicians simply need to look around the world to see what other countries are investing in transportation and energy infrastructure.
They need to roll up their sleeves and get the same things going here.
And while you wait, you might want to hop onboard the Siemens train and pick up a few shares.
Good investing,
David Fessler
Hush up there. Obozo will hear you.
Its really all about control.
Strip money out of highway funds to build trains and eventually the roads fall apart. Combine that with rising gas taxes and repairs from driving on broken down roads and people will be forced to live within easy access to a train station (in the city)
No more of those filthy rednecks going where they want, when they want.
That station was built with private funds too. So sad.
And there you go. Put some Windex on it.
(Brilliant tag line, BTW)
The highway funds don’t cover the cost of maintaining or building highways anymore. The haven’t for some time.
The train station I wait at was built and owned by a private company long before the government took it over.
You can’t say that about your highway. Talk about government control.
Dagney Taggart. Writ Large.
“California plans to spend $2 billion to build a 220 MPH high-speed rail system that would initially connect Anaheim to Los Angeles.”
It is 40 miles from Anaheim to LA. So I’m going to get there in twelve minutes? Yipee!! Of course, I’ll still have to drive 45 minutes to get to the station from my house.
Are they going to elevate the line? It’s either that or dig a tunnel. No way any vehicle is going to travel at those speeds from Anaheim through Fullerton, Buena Park, Santa Fe Springs, Commerce, and into LA crossing surface streets.
You mean like our little choo choo here that has around 2 people per trip and losing 250K per month. Whose $$ do you suppose that is?
Everybody will be lining up to take a 3 day cross country trip that takes 8 hrs by plane.
Pray for America
Bingo
Trains compete with airlines, not personal vehicles.
At 25 mpg, a personal vehicle would have to carry 28 passengers to have the equivalent fuel efficiency of a train.
I don't think even the illegal Mexicans can squeeze that many people into a car and still make it around a bend without tipping over.
Actually highway funds are stripped at multiple points and would be a lot more effective if the criminals stripping them didn’t find other means of leeching of the driver.
The rail nazis need to admit that they’re leeches, liars, and thieves with a control fetish.
Yeah that too.
Last time I took a train, there was a guy in uniform hanging out in the “bar car” all night. I asked him what he was in for.
He said he was the fire tender.
I said, “Um...it is a diesel-electric?”
He said, “Union.”
I said, “Do you even own a coal shovel? For that matter, have you ever seen one?”
“Nope.”
It doesn’t serve the same function so it is not a apples to apples comparison.
Does the train delivery me to my home and to my place of work, any business I choose, any schedule I want?
If I want to live with less function and service, I would expect to get a lower cost.
But I value my time and the ability to chose where I want to go and when. That has a cost I am willing to pay.
“Trains work in Europe because they’ve taxed fuel to $7.00 per Gallon.”
Do you mean $7.00 per LITER, which is about $19.00 per gallon! /s
Unless there is a high-speed train running every ten minutes from my front door to anywhere I want to go, I’ll still spend all of that same time waiting at lights.That's pretty silly.
I don’t really have a problem with high-speed rail. I enjoy traveling by train and have fond memories of doing so in my youth. That being said, it is not a Federal responsibility and it should be able to stand on its own in the marketplace.
I do favor the Federal government establishing a high speed rail standard for the 50 states (57 if you’re Obama) as is their role under Article I Section 8. At least with a federal standard, if states decided to link up their high speed rail networks, they would already be compatible.
Beyond that, it’s an issue for State government and the taxpaying residents of that state. There may be some regions where high speed rail makes sense but those decisions should be made at the State level where the elected officials are closer to the people. Moreover, residents of a state and their state representatives are better equipped to make decisions based on the unique attributes of their state.
Shoehorning states into high speed rail by the federal government is a recipe for waste and disaster — a national “Big Dig”.
Highway funds (tolls, tariffs, and gas taxes) cover about 70% of the cost of roads. Show me ANY train passenger system in America that has come close to that in the last two decades and then we’ll talk. Your earlier post that rails is cheaper than highways is a flat out fantasy.
700 miles to the gallon, and doesn’t go anywhere near my home or where I work. Absolutely. Useless.
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