Rail versus Truck: Is Amtrak an Obstacle?
There is a lot of wishful thinking, as well as some serious research, on the potential of shifting some of the projected growth in goods-movement from truck to rail, to help ease highway congestion. There were sessions on this topic at the TRB Annual Meeting in January, and one paper summarized the forthcoming report of National Cooperative Highway Research Project 8-42. That report evidently provides an overview of the issues and some examples of situations where such shifts might be feasible, but unfortunately for transportation planners, does not attempt to quantify how much of projected, say, container traffic it might be feasible to shift. (The TRB paper is “Rail Freight as a Means of Reducing roadway Congestion: Feasibility Considerations for Transportation Planning,” by Joseph Bryan, Glen Weisbrod, and Carl Martland, Nov. 9, 2006. It’s on the TRB 2007 Annual Meeting CD-ROM.)
One thing is pretty clear even now: the greatest potential for such cargo shifting is on long-haul routes, generally 700 miles or more. And that’s where the need to expand freight rail capacity bumps right up against a serious obstacle: Amtrak. The law creating Amtrak requires that freight railroads accommodate whatever passenger trains Amtrak chooses to operate. Thus, Amtrak’s long-distance trains compete for increasingly limited space on long-distance rail routes—the very place where truck-to-rail shifts are most needed.
And lest you think it’s just me raising this previously unmentionable subject, I’ll refer you to the January testimony of JayEtta Hecker, director of the Government Accountability Office’s physical infrastructure team. Appearing before the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, Hecker pointed out that rail freight traffic is often caught up in delays caused by the priority given to Amtrak trains at peak times. Congress should give freight railroads, not Amtrak, a bigger say in the future of the nation’s rail system. (I’m relying here on Earle Eldrige’s article, “A Voice for Freight,” in Traffic World, Jan. 29, 2007). Hecker urged the Commission to recommend a new body (like the Base Closing commissions) to look into which Amtrak routes to eliminate to ensure continued expansion of the vitally important rail freight network. “A commission could do what the politicians won’t do,” she said.
Backing up her position, a recent GAO report on intercity passenger rail found that Amtrak routes of 750 miles or more account for just 15% of its riders but 80% of its financial losses. (“Intercity Passenger Rail: National Policy and Strategies Needed to Maximize Public Benefits from Federal Expenditures,” GAO-07-15, November 12, 2006.)