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Fast Track To Public Rail Electrification

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While this thread is not about high-speed rail per se, HSR is one component of the national transportation system, which is the thread focus.  And HSR does happen to be the one component that is moving forward with some funding in place.  Oddly enough, however, there is an interesting dichotomy between the “green” or sustainability motive of the national transportation system proposal, and the concept of high speed.   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Sustainability is a buzzword that refers to limiting consumption to a level that can be renewed by the natural earth processes.  It can be illustrated by an example of a small universe consisting of one person and an apple tree.  The tree only makes apples once a year, and if it happens to make 365 apples, that means the person can eat one a day.  If the person decides to eat two a day, that is not sustainable.  If you burn oil, you must not burn it faster than the earth can produce it, or your consumption is unsustainable.  In poor countries, consumption is likely to be less than what is available on a sustainable basis.  But most rich countries are said to be consuming at a rate that is not sustainable.  The United States has generally been labeled as having the most unsustainable lifestyle of all.  So the prescription for the U.S. is twofold: <o:p></o:p> 1)      Improve the natural yield of energy and resources (develop apple trees that make more apples) 2)      Reduce consumption of energy and resources (eat fewer apples) <o:p></o:p> High speed rail succeeds at item #1, but fails item #2.  Shifting people off of rubber tires and highways, and onto steel wheels and rails increases the fuel efficiency.  However, pushing the speed higher decreases fuel efficiency.  To make transportation sustainable, we should shift people onto rail and haul them as slowly as we can. <o:p></o:p> The same is true for freight.  Corresponding to the HSR component of the national transportation system is the “Rapid Freight Rail” (RFR) component, which is lighter weight freight trains running on improved track at 100 mph.  The higher speed is deemed necessary to attract freight transportation away from trucking.  Even with a truck pickup at the origin and a truck delivery at the destination, RFR is said to be capable of a higher overall speed than an all-trucking alternative.  However, the truly sustainable solution would be to shift truck traffic to rail and to lower the speed.  If it takes longer to ship the goods, that just amounts to eating fewer apples.       <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> Here is a piece in The Guardian by John Whitelegg of the Stockholm Environment Institute arguing against HSR for the reasons I have mentioned: <o:p></o:p> <A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/high-speed-rail-travel-europe-uk" mce_href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/high-speed-rail-travel-europe-uk">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/high-speed-rail-travel-europe-uk</A> <o:p></o:p> He says:  <o:p></o:p> “The HSR plan is a large and expensive sledgehammer to crack a modestly sized nut.” <o:p></o:p> “HSR does not reduce the fuel consumption of domestic aviation or reduce annual carbon emissions from aircraft.  And it produces twice as much CO2 per passenger kilometer as a non-high speed train.” <o:p></o:p> *** <o:p></o:p> This article from the Wall Street Journal mentions that building all ten potential HSR routes in the U.S. would cut 3 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, which is roughly half the output of one coal fired power plant per year. <o:p></o:p> It mentions the $8 billion committed to HSR plus an additional $5 billion promised = $13 billion.  According to the article, the total price tag for a U.S. system will be $250-500 billion. <o:p></o:p> <A href="http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/04/16/working-on-the-railroad-obamas-green-pitch-for-high-speed-trains/" mce_href="http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/04/16/working-on-the-railroad-obamas-green-pitch-for-high-speed-trains/">http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/04/16/working-on-the-railroad-obamas-green-pitch-for-high-speed-trains/</A> <o:p></o:p> *** <o:p></o:p> Here is the U.S. national HSR strategic plan, which cites the 3 million tons of CO2 reduction per year: <o:p></o:p> <A href="http://www.fra.dot.gov/Downloads/RRdev/hsrspfacts.pdf" mce_href="http://www.fra.dot.gov/Downloads/RRdev/hsrspfacts.pdf">http://www.fra.dot.gov/Downloads/RRdev/hsrspfacts.pdf</A>   ***
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