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Fast Track To Public Rail Electrification

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 [quote user="aricat"] First of all no talk about nationalization.Railroading is a business with customers to serve. It is about making money providing service to those customers.Warren Buffet would not have bought BNSF if he didn't think he could make money. All this talk about electrification is for nothing unless we remember that railroading is a business.[/quote]   In response to your post, greyhounds made some great points about the motivation behind this plan, and I just want to add to them in regard to your post.   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Nationalization of railroads is the 600-pound gorilla in the living room all right.  I don’t see how nationalization would be inconsistent with serving customers, as you suggest.  I have no idea how it might affect Warren Buffet or his expectations, but I would not conclude that the participation of Warren Buffet proves nationalization is out of the question.  <o:p></o:p> You say, “All this talk about electrification is for nothing unless we remember that railroading is a business.”  Actually, the opposite is the case with the topic of this thread and the sources I have referenced, including the Trains article in the last issue.  This is precisely about electrification not as a private business decision, but rather, as a public policy decision regarding the safety, security, and general welfare of the United States.  It is like FEMA responding to Katrina. <o:p></o:p> Nothing I have found directly advocates the nationalization of the railroads in connection with electrification.  However, references do call for a National Transportation System and a National Energy Policy.  The FRA calls for a National Rail Plan to promote sustainable transportation among other things.  <o:p></o:p> Nationalization does not usually happen only out of necessity.  It has its own self-motivated, gravitational pull, and looks for opportunities for fulfillment.  The current political climate in the U.S. is unusually favorable to the basic concept of nationalization.  Nationalization often advances itself by calling for a national policy or the need to address a crisis.   <o:p></o:p> What is definitely being called for is a national transportation system powered by renewable energy instead of oil.  Rail is the centerpiece of this plan.  The plan not only calls for rail electrification, but also a major expansion of rail capacity for both freight and passenger traffic.  A complete HSR system is just a small part of this plan.  Directly linked with this gigantic proposal, is the call for a national conversion from fossil fuel energy to renewable energy, and a complete reconstruction and expansion of the national power grid.     <o:p></o:p> Taken all together, the enormous scope of this project can only be accomplished as a publicly funded, government project.  Furthermore, when you compare what will be new construction in this project to the existing private railroad plant, the size and value of the new part is much larger than the existing railroad plant.  Just the electrification of the railroads alone is too costly for the railroad companies to fund themselves with private capital, and BNSF has called for government financing for their electrification.   <o:p></o:p> Therefore, if this plan were implemented, the private railroad companies would be just a small component of it.  Even if the rest of the plan does not become a permanent nationalization, the government will be calling the shots for a long time until the public debt is paid off.  So if the railroads remain private in the context of this plan, they will be like the tail trying to wag the dog.
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