My Blanket Fort

Trains and America

I’ve heard so many people talk about how great more trains in America would be. By this, they mean more trains like Europe. A good example is the Eurostar which I’ve used. It connects Paris, Brussels, and London all by high speed rail. I went from Brussels to London in 2hrs. It was great, cost $60, and I slept the entire trip. The drive would be close to 5 hours, maybe a little less (all on the wrong side of the road), and petrol (which is gas) costs more in Europe. 

The Eurostar is only one example. Many high speed rails connect major cities across the entire continent. Imagine if the United State had such a system. Chicago to New York in a few hours. Indianapolis to L.A (probably through Chicago) in an afternoon/evening without a TSA agent feeling you up? Sounds great, deal me in.

Oh what, we can’t do that in America. You know why? Because in America we have to pander to, well everyone. It’d be racist, or bigotry, or corporate greed, or elitism, or some other crap excuse probably made up by someone who doesn’t get their way with high speed rails.

(Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying any of the aforementioned reasons are excuses made up by people who don’t get their way. But in the instance of high speed rails it is)

What I am saying though is, High Speed rails are only practical if they can travel at high speeds. This means a train from Chicago to New York, or Washington D.C. to L.A. would need to not make a stop in every state, or at every city it comes close to.

For my friends in Indiana, let me give you an example of how the debate would go if a high speed train was proposed to travel from Indianapolis to Chicago (maybe a 30 min trip).

Business sensible person: “Let’s build a high speed rail from Indy to Chicago”

Politician #1: “Great idea. Let’s see the plan. Oh it goes through my district city of Lafayette. We should build a stop there.”

BSP: “Well that would slow the trip down by about 100%, it wouldn’t make much sense.”

P #1: “But if the gov’t is going to pay for this, then we need to make it available to everyone, especially my friends in Lafayette.”

BSP: “But then it is more a high speed rail from Lafayette to Chicago, and the trip from Indianapolis, the 12th largest city in America, is essentially a connecting trip to Lafayette, not the 12th largest city in America.”

P #1: “Yes, but then the people of Lafayette, the 10th largest city in Indiana, will not be left out.”

Politician #2: “You guys talking about a rail from Indy to Chicago? Great, let’s make a stop in my district town on Crowne Point.”

BSP: “How does that make any sense? You’re not getting it. The HIGH speed rail cannot make multiple stops between major cities, especially ones that are a 2 hour drive, and a 30 min drive from the end destination. The high speed rail should connect centers of business, population, and tourism, not towns that are ‘big’ in your district.”

P #1 and #2: “Yeah, can’t do that.”

The point here is Government cannot be relied on to build high speed rails in America. Our politicians and government are more concerned with the well being of every individual and don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, so every service or program is built under a giant tent, which is fine, but only when a few services or programs are offered, and when private industry can’t do better.

Example, would anyone fly in a plane run by Amtrak? Probably, but it wouldn’t be profitable. The litmus test should be simple. If this makes sense and is cost effective, a private company would already be doing it in order to make money. so goodbye postal service, goodbye Amtrak, goodbye lots of wasteful programs that could be employing real workers who are not sucking down government money, but real money from consumers. 

I digress though. The point here is, everyone who is running around whining about how the government should fund high speed rails needs to stop. Then pool their money together and start a business. This business would acquire land, build tracks, buy trains, and start some high speed rail lines. A real far fetched idea for a generation that fails to really grasp the idea of sacrifice and risk and reward. 

The inspiration for this post is in the below re-blogged post of the introduction of a new high speed rail line in Japan by Japan Railways (which used to be government owned but is now operated by a group of seven for-profit companies that took over most of the assets and operations of the government owned Japanese National Railways in 1987, well ahead of the learning curve on what government can successfully operate and what they cannot). Looks how happy everyone is, and government did not do it, private companies out to make a profit did. Hooray for them.