"There are no signs that anyone will use it or that it will ease rush hour congestion."
Comment: Light rail scheme too costly, unrealistic
4/02/2006
Hugh Hemphill
San Antonio Express-News
Copuright 2006
While the furor over toll roads occupies center stage, another transportation proposal is limping toward another big slice of public funding.
Created in 1999, the Austin San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District has already spent $5.7 million of taxpayer money. If its plans are approved by the Federal Transit Administration, it will receive even more funding to do more detailed studies. Included will be finding out if anyone will actually ride on it. This consideration should have come first.
The plan is to run high frequency passenger trains between San Antonio and Georgetown, north of Austin. Like a soap bubble, there is an attractive surface sheen to the idea. However, this gossamer thin layer pops on the slightest application of real world pressure.
To accommodate these passenger trains, Union Pacific, which, not unimportantly, is the sole owner of the tracks, would have to stop running just about all its highly profitable freight trains and relocate them to what the ASA Web site disingenuously describes as an alternative right of way. However, there are no alternative tracks and there are precisely zero plans to create any.
The costs are staggering, more than $1 million per mile. This does not even begin to take into consideration the resulting protracted legal battles as hundreds of private land owners fight the forced acquisition of their land under eminent domain.
Look at Quihi. Vulcan Materials has been trying to build a seven-mile spur from the main line to a new quarry since 1999. If they can't make progress in Medina County, where they are crying out for job opportunities, the chances for new rail lines in much wealthier areas is even lower. It took more than 30 years to re-route trains around Brownsville.
And who would pay? Since UP already owns and maintains the existing tracks, it is unreasonable to expect it to construct a whole new network at its own cost. The "Memorandum of Understanding" with the state and UP contains no such language, although proponents of the commuter rail imply differently. It does say: "Any UP contribution toward any rail relocation project considered under this MOU must be commensurate with the private benefit, if any, it derives from the project." The key phrase being "if any."
The existing tracks are already being operated close to maximum capacity and will soon become even busier. The Toyota factory is almost completed, and the railroad will be the principal means of bringing in materials and shipping out finished trucks. The new integrated rail, road and air Port of San Antonio at KellyUSA has the capacity to generate even more jobs than Toyota. And the huge Cemex facility near New Braunfels, which operates its own railroad, is doubling its capacity.
Railroads have always made far more money moving freight than passengers. Railroad passenger travel peaked around 1930 and declined so badly that in 1970 the railroads collectively paid the government $190 million and donated their passenger equipment to Amtrak to be allowed to quit the business.
There has never been commuter rail service in this area. We love our automobiles. They cocoon us from the rest of the world as we go from home to work, pick up the kids and go to the supermarket. In India and China and across the developing world, people are embracing private automobiles, and who can blame them?
As a local railroad historian, I find myself in the unexpected position of being a strong railroad advocate and yet opposed to the commuter rail project. It will be horrendously disruptive and will never come close to breaking even. Noticeably, unlike toll roads, there are no private investors wanting to get on board. There are no signs that anyone will use it or that it will ease rush hour congestion.
Union Pacific needs to continue improving its tracks to handle even more freight, and local businesses need to be encouraged to use its services. A 100-car train carries the equivalent of about 400 fully laden 18-wheelers. UP's 60 trains a day keep 24,000 trucks off our roads.
Getting even more freight onto the rails is far more likely to make our daily commutes quicker and safer, not some pie in the sky scheme that flies in the face of both history and economic realities.
Hugh Hemphill is author of "The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas" (Maverick Publishing, 2006).
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News: www.mysanantonio.com
4/02/2006
Hugh Hemphill
San Antonio Express-News
Copuright 2006
While the furor over toll roads occupies center stage, another transportation proposal is limping toward another big slice of public funding.
Created in 1999, the Austin San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District has already spent $5.7 million of taxpayer money. If its plans are approved by the Federal Transit Administration, it will receive even more funding to do more detailed studies. Included will be finding out if anyone will actually ride on it. This consideration should have come first.
The plan is to run high frequency passenger trains between San Antonio and Georgetown, north of Austin. Like a soap bubble, there is an attractive surface sheen to the idea. However, this gossamer thin layer pops on the slightest application of real world pressure.
To accommodate these passenger trains, Union Pacific, which, not unimportantly, is the sole owner of the tracks, would have to stop running just about all its highly profitable freight trains and relocate them to what the ASA Web site disingenuously describes as an alternative right of way. However, there are no alternative tracks and there are precisely zero plans to create any.
The costs are staggering, more than $1 million per mile. This does not even begin to take into consideration the resulting protracted legal battles as hundreds of private land owners fight the forced acquisition of their land under eminent domain.
Look at Quihi. Vulcan Materials has been trying to build a seven-mile spur from the main line to a new quarry since 1999. If they can't make progress in Medina County, where they are crying out for job opportunities, the chances for new rail lines in much wealthier areas is even lower. It took more than 30 years to re-route trains around Brownsville.
And who would pay? Since UP already owns and maintains the existing tracks, it is unreasonable to expect it to construct a whole new network at its own cost. The "Memorandum of Understanding" with the state and UP contains no such language, although proponents of the commuter rail imply differently. It does say: "Any UP contribution toward any rail relocation project considered under this MOU must be commensurate with the private benefit, if any, it derives from the project." The key phrase being "if any."
The existing tracks are already being operated close to maximum capacity and will soon become even busier. The Toyota factory is almost completed, and the railroad will be the principal means of bringing in materials and shipping out finished trucks. The new integrated rail, road and air Port of San Antonio at KellyUSA has the capacity to generate even more jobs than Toyota. And the huge Cemex facility near New Braunfels, which operates its own railroad, is doubling its capacity.
Railroads have always made far more money moving freight than passengers. Railroad passenger travel peaked around 1930 and declined so badly that in 1970 the railroads collectively paid the government $190 million and donated their passenger equipment to Amtrak to be allowed to quit the business.
There has never been commuter rail service in this area. We love our automobiles. They cocoon us from the rest of the world as we go from home to work, pick up the kids and go to the supermarket. In India and China and across the developing world, people are embracing private automobiles, and who can blame them?
As a local railroad historian, I find myself in the unexpected position of being a strong railroad advocate and yet opposed to the commuter rail project. It will be horrendously disruptive and will never come close to breaking even. Noticeably, unlike toll roads, there are no private investors wanting to get on board. There are no signs that anyone will use it or that it will ease rush hour congestion.
Union Pacific needs to continue improving its tracks to handle even more freight, and local businesses need to be encouraged to use its services. A 100-car train carries the equivalent of about 400 fully laden 18-wheelers. UP's 60 trains a day keep 24,000 trucks off our roads.
Getting even more freight onto the rails is far more likely to make our daily commutes quicker and safer, not some pie in the sky scheme that flies in the face of both history and economic realities.
Hugh Hemphill is author of "The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas" (Maverick Publishing, 2006).
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Sunday, April 02, 2006
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