"Economics and Politics of High-Speed Rail"

I recently read The Economics and Politics of High Speed Rail by Dr. Daniel Albalate and Dr. Germa Bel. Both the authors hold PhD’s in economics. Their findings were quite informative.

The authors indicate that only Tokyo to Osaka and Paris Lyon are the sole profiable routes in the high speed rail category - 124 mph plus.

So, it seems that the opportunities lie in the higher speed rail category of 90 to 110 mph. But, whether higher speed or high speed rail the rationale is to either compete with other passenger modes in order to lessen capacity pressures for that mode or to encourage and enhance railroad freight capacity by increasing speed for both passnger and freight on existing freight railroads.

As a Pennsylvanian it would be a pleasure to have greater cross state passenger rail options. But the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg is essentially a line built to civil engineering and construction standards of the 1850’s. Yes, the Horseshoe Curve is remarkable but it is a historical curiosity. If John Edgar Thompson, the civil engineer largely responsible, were alive today he would use modern mapping and survey tools together with dynamite and diesel powered machinery to design and build the line. Confronted with the Allegheny frontal, rather than a Horseshoe Curve, he would likely follow a straight diagonal line from Tyrone to Gallitzin. That would be a one per cent grade.

Having looked at the existing line from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg it appears that construction of 90 mph curves where required is theoretically possible together with the Tyrone to Gallitzin diagonal for a higher speed line. But notwithstanding doing such, might a entirely new line, not adjustments to alignments make sense?

It is informative that a .03 percent line was proposed at the beginning of the Twentieth Century to have been called the New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh Railroad. It was surveyed from Easton, PA to North Bessemer, PA and the route identified. An easier grade is possible. Famed Pennsylvania Railroad President Samuel Rea, after he retired, did a study for what would have been a higher speed railroad across Pennsylvania leaving the Pennsylvania Railroad mainline at Lewistown and going west being a 1% railroad. But both routes required lengthy tunnels. So, if favorable routes across the Alleghenies were found years ago with transit, theodilite and chain, is there a way to identify a better route  with modern technology? Would it be cost effective to make a freight railroad faster  with its higher speed capability (90 to 110mph) making a practical integration of passnger and freight operations?

An enhanced freight railroad across Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, would be designed to attract traffic from highway to rail. The higher freight speed would allow for increased passenger service not currently practical on the existing line.

Studies by both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Norfolk Southern concluded that adding an additional passenger train let alone trains on the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg line would require substantial investment into an allignment designed and built essentially in the 1850’s. The required investment would do nothing for passenger train speed. It would remain as it has been for decades. The only purpose would be to NOT have passenger train interference with the large volume of freight trains.

Is it time to build a modern higher speed railroad across Pennsylvania? Perhaps yes. Simply based upon projections for highway capacity and railroad capacity say to 2035, significant bottlenecks are likely both nationally and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. An engineering study is required.

While the focus is upon Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, given the peculiar problems of the Allegheny Mountains; the engineering study should consider where the higher speed line should be located first from the ideal location of a 1% or less grade. The end point and beginning point might be outside the bounds of Pennsylvania - Ohio / New Jersey?

More than one line might be considered. As the Norfolk and Western owns the current Pittsburgh to Harrisburg line, the CSX operates a line across western Pennsylvania through Pittsburgh to Baltimore that was once the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Can freight operations of the CSX be combined with a new higher speed line to benefit that freight railroad’s efficiency and competitiveness as well?

Assuming that an engineering study finds a new higher speed railroad line to be feasible, then the study should address. how it might be financed. Might is be a publicly owned and financed Pennsylvania corporation for its entire length even if its end points were out of state? This would be as if Pennsylvania bought the Ohio Turnpike and folded it into the Turnpike Commission. Or, could the proposed line be a private company? What government guarantees and inducements might be considered?

Surely the need for greater railroad capacity for the future argues for the study to be undertaken.

As Abelate and Bel note, high speed rail (HSR 124 mph plus) practical costs are narrow, unique and specific. Higher speed rail (HrSR 90 to 110 mph) should be the focus.

Unsecured Northeast Corridor RIght of Way

The May 12, 2015, derailment of Amtrak Train 188 northbound at Frankford Junction north of Philadelphia was caused in part by a projectile hitting a SEPTA train, fracturing glass and injuring the SEPTA engineer. The Engineer on Amtrak 188 was listening to transmissions from the SEPTA engineer shortly before entering the curve at Frankford Junction. It is a 50 mile per hour curve. 188 was doing 106 mph. The NTSB said that he Amtrak engineer lost "situational awareness."

But for the Vandalism done to the SEPTA train there would not have been a loss of "situational awareness.

Vandalism along the Northeast Corridor is a perennial problem.

At the Railroad Museum of Pennsylania at Strasburg, PA, an original 1968 high speed Metroliner is on display. Its decades of service clearly show the number of times it suffered vandalism.

The Northeast Corridor right of way should be secured in order to minimize what is on display in the railroad museum.

More Thoughts on Coming and Going

Here is a little research into the right to come and go, the right to travel. It is a right that we seldom think about or consider.

Where is the right to travel here and about for whatever reason expressed in the Constitution?

No where is the right expressed.

Now, the Articles of Confederation in Article IV provide that “the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other State.” That’s it. That’s the last time the right was enumerated. But, of course, it is an imputed right as its denial abridges, harms other rights. The right is so elementary that it was conceived and is from the beginning understood to naturally accompanying the U.S. Constitution. The right follows from the Constitution. “The right to travel is self-evident and no force of expression adds to its truth.” (Note: paraphased from Chief Justice Marshall).

So this right to travel is a privilege and immunity. It is first addressed first in Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution. “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the several States.”

A strong motivation to form the United States was to facilitate commercial intercourse and with it intellectual, cultural, scientific, social and political interests are served by free movement.

If a State obstructs the free intercourse of people, goods or ideas, then the forces, the bonds of the country, the union, are impaired or perhaps threatened. A liberty interest cannot be taken away without due process of law includes liberty of speech, press, assembly, religion, and also liberty of movement.

Comining and Going - A Civil Right

Your coming and going.

You do not think about it.

It is something you just do.
But, it IS a protected civil right.

You seldom think about the right to come and go.

The rights, privileges and immunities secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States mean there is an inherent right to travel free from restrictions unrelated to legitimate government objectives.

I never gave that civil right much thought until I read the indictment that Kelly and Baroni were convicted of today. Bridgegate. When they conspired to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge they impeded, harmed and denied the rights of thousands of persons their freedom to come and go.Their doing so amounted to conspiracy as there was no legitimate government function in what they did. See the indictment for a seminar about your rights at https://www.justice.gov/usao…/file/768866/download

Missed business appointments, medical appointments, loss of income reporting to work late, waste of fuel by the delay, avoidable air pollution - some of the things that come to mind in lane closures.  There may have been court appearances missed causing a defendant to be at further risk in the criminal justice system for failure to appear. A plaintiff in a civil case has further delays to their claim. Worse, the plaintiff's case might have been dismissed.  A professional licensure examination was missed causing disqualifiaction to practice a profession. These are just a few situations that come to mind. Given the thousands of persons denied the civil right to come and go, multiply the outcomes and affects, is a 20 year sentence unreasonable?

As for Mr. Christie, per the departed Paul Harvey, "Stand by for news!"

Why Can't the United States Build a High-Speed Rail System?

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2014/08/why-cant-the-united-states-build-a-high-speed-rail-system/375980/

Will High Speed Rail Ever Happen?

If a political party of NO exists and that same party does not KNOW; what are the chances?

http://www.citylab.com/work/2013/10/will-us-ever-get-high-speed-rail-anywhere/7314/

Aerotrain PRR - New York to Pittsburgh

Here is an April 1956 article from the Pennsylvania Railroad employee magazine, Pennsy. It describes a new 7 and 1/2 hour schedule between Pittsburgh and New York city using a light weight, low center of gravity design by General Motors. It was called the Aerotrain. The passenger cars used components from intercity GM buses. The experiment lasted about two years. It is unclear why it was abandoned. The Aerotrain was reportedly noisy. The segmented, jointed rails would have contributed to the migration of noise into the passenger cars. The locomotive made more noise than conventional passenger diesel locomotives. Early on suspension adjustments were required that the New York Times reported was an effort to lessen "shake, rattle and rule." Or, maybe it was simply the flight from intercity passnger trains to private automobiles that was then underway. The schedule was as fast as the schedule for the famed Broadway Limited all pullman passnger trai at 7 and 1/2 hours.

Amtrak now delivers a 9 hour 20 minute schedule.

An eastbound Aerotrain at the Juniata Works, PRR locomotive and rolling stock repair facility, about two miles from the Altoona passenger station:

Westbound Aerotrain at Altoona passenger station in background:

Westbound Aerotrain a few miles west of the Altoona passenger adjacent to a signal tower called "Slope" as this was near the base of the slope or grade over the Allegheny frontal through the Horseshoe Curve to top of the grade at Gallitzin, PA: