By Tom KandoThe January 15 issue of the Sacramento Bee contains an excellent article, “Spain’s Trains Hold Lessons for California.”
Clearly public opinion, aided by the likes of Dan Walters (otherwise usually a reasonable man), has turned against the project. Chief Executive Roelof Van Ark has resigned from what increasingly appears to be a losing battle. The handwriting is on the wall.
The main reason for the project’s probable failure is ignorance - among the public and among opinion leaders. The ignorance stems from Americans’ increasing insularity. Most people in this country are unaware of the fact that the rest of the world is moving forward, because they do not visit or give a damn about the rest of the world.
My own personal experience is different: I was a European for the first third of my life, and since my immigration to the US I have been back about 50 times. I spent 10 years in France, 10 years in the Netherlands and my relatives live in Spain, in the UK and in Hungary. My family and I have traveled by regular train and by high-speed train dozens, maybe hundreds of times. I have also used the high-speed trains of Japan and Korea.
Most Americans have no conception of the efficiency, comfort and all-around advantages of this form of transportation. This is ironic, because high-speed trains are perfect for long distances, i.e. for a vast country such as the US.
When I want to go from my mother in Amsterdam to my sister in Malaga, nearly 3000 kilometers to the South, I chose high-speed train over driving, which would be an ordeal, and even over flying. The French TGV is especially phenomenal, and it is used massively.
Europe’s economic future is now cloudy. Spain is in trouble. But the high-speed infrastructure which it built for $60 billion over the past 15 years is a lasting step forward. Whatever happens in the future, things would be bleaker without it.
But America suffers from a loss of vision. For the short term, the doomsayers may be correct. We are broke. $100 billion is a lot of money (why did Spain do so much more for so much less money, by the way?).
But my God, how have we come to the point where two dozen other countries have adopted high-speed rail (Japan has had it for over 40 years), where every year additional countries join the list, but the country that landed men on the moon cannot move into the 21st century? It is as if, 100 years ago, the US would have said, “no thank you, we’ll stick with horse carriages.”
If Americans decide that they can’t afford high-speed rail and that other priorities are more important, so be it. But then, they must understand that the rest of the world is moving forward. In addition to the 11 countries listed in the Sacramento Bee article, the following countries also have, or are building high-speed systems: Austria, Bulgaria, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uzbekistan and even an African country - Morocco!
Maybe the naysayers are right. Others can have this, but Americans cannot. Or Americans don’t need it. Whatever. If this is our decision, it should then be accompanied by great humility. And above all, it should be informed. We should know the score.
At least, if we decide not to join the rest of the world into the 21st century, we will do so while knowing the facts. leave comment here
See also: Should we Build High Speed Rail in California and if so How?
10 comments:
Yes! There's investment to make money and there's investment to make our future as a nation. They are both are about creating wealth but they entail the use of different systems of accounting.
Seems to me your argument is akin to saying: “I don’t understand, every other country’s national sport is soccer, why isn’t it ours also?” . It doesn’t come down to being “informed”, it comes down to preferences. I’ve commuted on BART, light rail, the Metro in DC, the PATH in New Jersey, etc , and generally speaking I don’t like the class of people you ride with on trains. In an infrequent non-commute situation, I would prefer to drive or fly, so I will not support high speed rail.
Marc's comment makes sense.
Anonymous is silly.
Over several years, my wife and I have ridden on high-speed trains. For instance, last year in Germany we saw beautifully-dressed, friendly and well-mannered upper-middle class professional people riding on the high-speed train; same thing from Milan to Rome, and Amsterdam to Paris, just to mention a few examples.
P.S. It seems foolish to compare the need for efficient and rapid transportation with choice of sport. The issue at hand is much larger than that.
The Anonymous brain is stuck in a downward spiral that infects more than just train systems in the U.S. of A.
Sleazy systems make users sleazy which produces a downward spiral of sleazier systems and sleazier users.
Classy systems make users classy which produces an upward spiral of classier systems and classier users.
The Anonymous brain turns the U.S. of A into a sleaze machine.
Tom,
You are absolutely on target – I find it difficult to understand much of the public discourse of today. Bev and I have been following the Republican debates and find a fair amount of the substance not related to the reality of the U.S. in today’s world.
Thanks, Don,
Yes, those candidates are taking up an awful lot of our attention, month after month, but to what benefit, ultimately?
That's it?? That's the facts? We should build it because two dozen other countries have it and you like riding on it?
Here's just one fact for you to consider: Morocco has signed a contract to construct an HST from Casablanca to Tangier (close to 200 mi) for 2 billion euro.
Here's another: :"According to a Parliamentary inquiry, consultants projected that Eurostar ridership would reach nearly 25 million passengers by 2006. As of 2010, ridership still languishes below 10 million, at 9.5 million. Rosy ridership and revenue estimates have often occurred with major infrastructure projects, especially rail projects, as has been documented in research by Flyvbjerg et al." FYI, that works out to a train with maybe 500 passengers each way every half hour during normal hours.
Here's another (factual only insofar as it really is what our HST folks are dreaming): "The most recent ridership forecasts for the California High-Speed Train Project estimate between 88 – 117 million passengers annually by 2030 " . My back of the envelope calculation says that this is a fully loaded train every three minutes, each way. (Hope they don't stop too quick for emergencies :)
Cheers
I don’t claim to present ALL “the facts,” just SOME of the facts.
As to your “facts”:
Assuming that your sources are right, 500 passengers each way every half hour is excellent.
What’s the problem? Eurostar (a great system which I have ridden several times) is not "langushing."
As to the California project: I agree that the 100 million annual projection is outlandish. Subways work well with trains every 3 minutes, but such a schedule is inconceivable for long-distance trains.
But that’s just the point: Even at ONE TENTH of that frequency, the California project would be a shining success. There are few train lines in the world that are served at such a high frequency (a train ever half hour).
So, perhaps the proponents of the project have made gaffes, in their P.R. campaign. But I have no doubt that public transportation, including high-speed trains, is the future. For economic, environmental and democratic reasons. Exclusive reliance on the private automobile and on airplanes is wasteful, bad for the environment, and it creates a caste system.
Forward-looking China already has 4000 miles of high-speed train. Are we going to be the Luddites of the 21st century?
If profitability is your sole criterion, I assume that you would never have supported the creation of NASA, among other government projects?
An outstanding share! I've just forwarded this onto a co-worker who was doing a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me dinner due to the fact that I found it for him... lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to discuss this matter here on your web page. Also visit my page Pucol
Thank you, anonymous, for your supportive comment.
I gather from your website that you are in Spain.
Whatever that country's ecnomic troubles may be at this time (we read about them frequently), I saw Spain's high-speed train in Malaga a couple of years ago, and I was very impressed!
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