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I have linked below, an essay by Alan Drake who is a main source cited in the Trains article, WIRED UP by Scott Lothes.  In the article, author Lothes cracks open a door to peek inside of a political ideology whereby U.S. railroads are electrified as part of a national energy policy.  The essay by Alan Drake throws that door wide open so we can really see what is being proposed in the Trains article. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Traditionally, the subject of U.S. railroad electrification has been analyzed in terms of whether the risk of the needed investment is worth taking by the individual railroads.  In the ideology advocated by Drake and Lothes, the issue of private risk, has been entirely circumvented, so it is no longer the impediment.   <o:p></o:p> Rather than waiting for private railroads to find their risk acceptable to proceed with electrification, Drake and Lothes want to use the carrots and sticks of government, coupled with public funding, to get the job done now.  Their premise has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not private railroads want to take the risk to electrify as a business decision.  Instead, they rise above that traditional impediment by pushing a national energy policy by the federal government to address an urgent crisis.  Allan Drake puts it this way:   <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> “The United States of America needs electrified rail done as soon as possible, given the growing crisis in energy and climate.” <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> Clearly, the objective of this rail electrification ideology as expressed by author Scott Lothes and Alan Drake is to create a non-oil transportation system.  And clearly, their intent is to derive the power from renewable energy, as opposed to coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear.  The predominate renewable energy source will be windmills.  And even beyond that, they want to use railroad electrification to drive the development of renewable energy faster than it would otherwise occur.   Allan Drake puts it this way:   <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p>  “A combined policy of a national push for renewable energy with a national push for electrified transportation (railroads and Urban Rail) give the largest GDP, the largest reduction in Greenhouse Gases, and the largest reduction in oil consumption over decade and longer time horizons.” <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> Reading down the page, you will come to the headings, “The First Step (Small),” “The First Step (Large),” and “Some Possible Incentives.”  In these segments, Mr. Drake outlines the approaches for getting electrification done within six years.  He points out that many railroads have a monopoly, so without competition from other railroads, they can drag their feet on electrification.  He says: <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p>  “This lack of competition stifles innovation.  However, once a member of a duopoly innovates, the other member is compelled to match them.” <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> So Mr. Drake wants to use tax incentives to entice railroads to electrify.  When one electrifies, all the others will have to do likewise in order to compete with the one that was first enticed to electrify by taking advantage of the tax incentives.  Mr. Drake refers to this a chain reaction.  He does not want to use a fixed incentive because it will encourage cautious evaluation and delay.  Instead, he proposes a system of declining incentives that would encourage a sort stampede into electrification in order to get the job done quick enough to meet the looming crisis in energy and climate. <o:p></o:p> The link to the essay by Alan Drake as the first post in a blog format starting at the top of the page: <A href="http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4301">http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4301</A>
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