High-Speed Rail on the Ballot in California

This November, supporters of a plan to construct a high-speed rail network in California could have something many thought they’d never see: $9.95 billion in cold, hard cash.

If approved by a simple majority on the statewide ballot, California Proposition 1A would provide $9 billion to construct a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and $950 million for other rail improvements in the state. Although a fraction of the total system cost, the money would provide leverage for federal matching funds (possible made available through a hypothetical Green-TEA) or private funds.

The proposed route is illustrated nicely through this interactive tool on the website of the state agency responsible for planning and building the new system, the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

The entire plan would connect the state’s major cities with modern trains traveling up to 220 miles per hour over a new, 800-mile rail network. Although some complain the system tries to do too much — provide express service as well as local service to smaller cities — and anti-rail ideologues have bludgeoned the plan with usual complaints, the proposal has been unusually resilient to criticism thanks to high gas prices, concern over global warming, and frustration with traffic congestion. The 12-year-old California High-Speed Rail Authority has made good use of the planning money allocated thus far, producing slick online maps, animations, renderings, and videos, that show brightly colored yellow and gold trains whizzing through un-built tunnels, stations, and transit oriented developments (strategically located throughout the state).

The agency has posted a number of videos to YouTube, and this somewhat stiff 10-minute promotional film has been viewed over 300,000 times:

Is all this too good be true? Fearing the worst, one rail supporter predicted in 2007 a failure of leadership, failure on the ballot, or public apathy would be enough to stall the plan. The bitter diatribe provoked some young commenters to respond. “You may have enjoyed most of your life but mine is just starting!” wrote a 16-year-old, who added, “if you’re going to sit at your computer preaching how high speed rail is never going to work maybe you could be more proactive.”

At a national level, much work remains to be done to improve inter-city passenger rail service. Despite isolated success stories (such as the subject of a previous post, the Downeaster), as a whole Amtrak faces serious financial and infrastructure obstacles. (Described in detail in a recent article in the Next American City magazine.) As for high-speed rail, no serious national planning effort even exists. The U.S. Department of Transportation plan itself doesn’t even propose an nationwide, interconnected network, and only a few activists have begun to consider what it might look like.

Then again, what could be better to convince a skeptical nation of the benefits of high-speed rail than a successful, functioning state system? For now then, we wait for the decision of California voters on November 4th.

> Yes on 1A – Californians for High Speed Rail
> California High-Speed Rail Authority
> California High Speed Rail Blog

Maine’s Unlikely Train

When I told my boss I was taking the train to Maine for the weekend two ago, he reacted by surprise. “There’s a train to Maine?”

Since the largest city in the state is just over 62,000 people, it’s a fair question. Much of the state is extremely rural and the total population reaches only 1.3 million.

Despite this, the state’s Amtrak service is booming in popularity. The Downeaster service, which provides service between Portland, Maine and Boston via several stops in southern Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts carried record 441,769 riders in FY2008, a 28% increase over the previous year.

The route was launched in 2001, a joint partnership between Amtrak and a special rail authority established by the Maine state government. (13 other states also contract with Amtrak for rail service) Thanks to this arrangement, Amtrak operated the train and the rail authority oversees marketing and management of the line. Initially the route was plagued with delays as the train shares the track with freight trains. Improvements in recent years have cut the average trip time to around 2.5 hours, just over what a similar trip take driving, although recent on-time performance of around 70% clearly needs improvement. The route has its own website, marketing plan, and Downeaster trains now have free Wi-Fi service for passengers.

Why is the service a success? Although a rural state, a significant portion of Maine’s population is clustered in southern Maine near Downeaster stops. The state shares close economic ties with Boston, meaning many commuters — a recent performance report says they make up one-third of the passengers. Furthermore, the two end stations are closely tied to public transit — bus routes in Portland and The T subway and commuter rail system in Boston. Most of all, the service enjoys clear support by riders and political leaders alike who have worked hard to build new stations, keep ticket prices low, promote the service, and trouble-shoot schedule problems. One rider even set up a blog to track news relating to the train.

The success of the rail line has inspired one of the communities along the route, Saco, to build a train station adjacent a collection of vacant factory buildings, where a long-planned redevelopment will put apartments, offices, and stores. The project, featured in a hopeful promotional video, won final approval from municipal officials last year. Although the train station is not yet complete, a large wind turbine installed by the city to power the building is already operating.

The Amtrak system is often discussed as a whole, whose fortunes rise or sink according to macroscopic forces such as the funding whims of Congress and the price of gas. While true to some extent, the Downeaster reminds us the success of Amtrak routes also depends on state-specific service contracts and funds, intermodal transportation planning, stations quality, and the combined efforts of Amtrak staff, riders, and local political leaders. Although the Downeaster faces major obstacles, including long-term funding sources and aging infrastructure, its success thus far has been no accident.

Photos by LenEdgerly and PhotoPunk used courtesy Creative Commons license.