quote:Romance of the Rails: Why the Passenger Trains We Love Are Not the Transportation We Need
Book Forum
October 10, 2018 11:30AM to 1:30PM EDT
Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute
Featuring the author Randal O’Toole, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; with comments by Art Guzzetti, Vice President of Policy, American Public Transportation Association; Jim Mathews, President, Rail Passengers Association; and Marc Scribner, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute; moderated by Jason Kuznicki, Editor, Cato Institute.
Like many Americans, Randal O’Toole loves passenger trains, yet he acknowledges that intercity passenger trains and — outside of the New York region — urban rail transit play little role in American life today. The replacement of passenger trains with cars, buses, and airplanes is similar to many other recent technological replacements: word processors replacing typewriters, calculators replacing slide rules, telephones replacing telegraphs, and cell phones replacing land lines. However, only for passenger trains has the government spent billions of dollars a year attempting to turn back the clock and slow that replacement. O’Toole’s book Romance of the Rails asks why this is so and whether passenger rail has a significant role to play in the future. Art Guzzetti, an advocate for urban rail transit; Jim Mathews, an advocate for intercity passenger trains; and Marc Scribner, an advocate for free-market transportation, will offer their comments on the book. …
The panel discussion runs for an hour and a half. I watched the first twenty minutes. While some might expect any presentation by the Cato Institute to be a passenger train "bashing", this appears to be otherwise.
More time, I'll watch more of it.
Posts: 9979 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I found the video quite interesting. Considering that the Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank, I was glad to hear from panelists in favor of public transportation, Amtrak, etc and from those who are advocates of free market transportation.
I didn't know that the highway trust fund will show a 108 billion deficit by 2026.
A couple of interesting points by Jim Mathews (RPA). Passengers in 714 cars, on the average, equal the amount of passengers that an 8 car passenger train can carry.
Another point; the Empire Builder, with 46 stations along the 2.5 day route, offers 1081 possible trip combinations. According to Mr. Mathews, this represents 57% more trip combinations that our most efficient airline, in the US, is capable of over a 2 day period.
An obvious point, by Marc Scribner, is that the automobile allows far greater access to individual work sites compared to public transportation. Another point he made is that Amtrak's sole purpose seems to be to drive political support for its train system, as opposed to driving passengers.
I was hoping they would talk more about the whole problem of access to public transportation ...bus and train stations. I think it's a big issue. How do you get to the station and how do you get to your destination upon arrival, especially in smaller cities and towns. Some of us old folks don't like long automobile drives and worry about car vandalism in the Amtrak parking lot.
I enjoyed the presentation. Thanks for posting, Mr. Norman.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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