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America faces numerous infrastructure challenges.  Many of its highways, airports, airways, rail lines, pipelines, electrical grids, telecommunication facilities, etc. need to be upgraded or replaced.  In addition, given the projected growth in the population, new infrastructure will be needed.Following the end of WW II Americans focused on two national passenger transport systems, i.e. systems that cover the nation as opposed to serving a regional market.  They settled on highway and air transport while shunning passenger rail in most markets.  The shift to highway and air travel was a function of superior technology.  It was not, as some have suggested, a political conspiracy to wreck the country's railway passenger business.  The car is more flexible, comfortable, convenient and, in many instances, economical than taking a train.  The airplane, especially the jet, beats the train hands down for long distance travel.  It can cover as much distance in a hour or two than a train can all day long.    Had Amtrak not been formed as a political solution to the shrinking passenger train market, intercity trains would have disappeared, with the exception of commuter rail and perhaps the NEC.  The NEC, because of its population density and lifestyles, i.e. people were used to taking the train, might have been able to stand on its own if it had been managed properly.Now, as the country's population grows larger and larger, there is a place for passenger rail.  But it is not in a reincarnation of a 1950s style intercity passenger rail system.  It is rapid rail in relatively high density corridors, on an upgraded existing rail infrastructure, where the cost of building more highways (the choice of most people) and expanding airways (the choice of most business people) is cost prohibitive.  Building a passenger rail system to connect America's 100 or so largest metropolitan areas, as advocated by some, including NARP, begs two important questions.  Would people use it in sufficient numbers to cover at least the operating costs?   And can America afford a third national passenger transport system?The U.S. national debt is approximately $9.5 trillion.  And it is growing at the rate of more than $600 billion a year.  This is the federal operations spend deficit, which is masked in part by Social Security surpluses.  This averages out to nearly $100,000 per household, with an annual interest burden of more than $4,000 per household.  But approximately one third of the households in the U.S. that file a federal income tax return pay no federal income taxes.  So the burden for the households that pay income taxes is considerably more than $100,000.  But it does not stop there.  It does not include state and local government debt, consumer debt, mortgage debt, credit card debt, etc.  When these amounts are factored into the matrix, the average debt per American household is estimated to be more than $175,000.  However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.The former Comptroller of the Currency, David Walker, estimates that the average burden for American household is more than $400,000 when the unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) are taken into consideration.  He is so concerned about it that he left the current administration to become an advocate for recognizing the problem and taking steps to fix it.  How heavy is the burden?  The median household income in 2007 was $48,200 per household.  Thus, the potential federal finance burden is nearly 10 times the country's median household income.  And that is not sustainable.  Unfortunately, I have not seen from those advocating a massive investment in passenger rail in the U.S. a serious plan to finance it.  They talk about getting more federal monies, as if this will not further acerbate the country's financial problems.  Advocating more spending without a plan to pay for it lays the burden off on our children and grandchildren.  And that is irresponsible. America needs to improve and expand its highways and airways where it is cost effective.  It should build rapid rail where the cost of improving the airways and highways is cost prohibitive and there is a commercial need for it.  But it cannot afford a third national passenger system, unless it wants a tax structure like most of the European countries.  And polls show that most Americans want to go there.
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