Why don't we have the High-Speed Bullet trains?
Socio-Economic Reform
Do you know one of the main forces against these High-speed Rails which is killing all these progressive projects in their infancy? To find that you just have to search online “Why can’t the US build high-speed rails”. The first response is from Cato Institute which is one of the Largest think tanks founded by Charles Koch, The founder of Koch Industries. As per Cato Institute, "High-speed rail is an obsolete technology because it requires expensive and dedicated infrastructure that will serve no purpose other than moving passengers who could more economically travel by highway or air".
Then my question is, so are all these other Developed Nations run by idiots where they are adding miles and miles of HSR every year?. And by the way, Why the Koch family is so passionate about the Public transit projects, I thought they all fly in private jets?
The Koch Brothers don’t want the US to invest in High-Speed Rails because it uses electricity, clean energy. It will drop this country’s dependence on highway road transport and Fossil fuels where they are heavily invested in. Please see the sec.gov details below on Koch Industries and how much they are invested in Petroleum refining and distribution and byproducts like Asphalt. Koch subsidiaries are involved in Oil Pipelining, crude oil supply and refining, chemical production, oil exploration and production, and wholesale marketing of fuel oil, base oils, chemical intermediates, petrochemicals, gasoline, asphalt, and other products.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/41077/000119312505225697/dex996.htm
It will make their oil pipelines and refineries unprofitable and bring down the use of Asphalt which is used in the construction of all our roads and highways. So to save their businesses, they created/funded a web of political advocacy groups/lobbying firms including Americans for prosperity (AFP) to influence politicians and people to shoot down any progressive public transit projects like highspeed Rails. They pump millions into our political system and control the Machin’s of the Democratic party and most of the Republican party. The Forbes article below “Tracking Koch Money and Americans for Prosperity” shows how the money flows between the Various child organizations they created to ease the money flow to the Politicians and their Campaigns. One Main organization the Forbes article missed is the Reason Foundation which is another Koch-funded Special interest group which is behind Reason.com, Reason Magazine, ReasonTV. I am including another Opensecrets article which explains the other Koch-funded subsidiaries linked to Reason Foundation. These organizations/advocacy groups all work together to raise millions and billions to fund the political campaigns of the Presidents, Governors, Senators, Representatives even state and local elected officials. This maybe the reason the former Governors John Kasich, Rick Scott, Scott Walker all turned down those federal Aid for High-speed rails because, without the dark money from these Mega donors, they cannot win. If any republican politician tries to go against the interest of Koch like Donors, grassroots Local Chapters of AFP will fund people to go door to door against those politicians or any progressive ideas they float. The diagram below is from the Forbes/Muckety article which maps the ties linking the Kochs, Americans for Prosperity and funding organizations
Forbes/Muckety diagram shows ties linking the Kochs, Americans for Prosperity and funding organizations
I am also Quoting the New York Times article, How the Koch Brothers Are Killing even the Intracity Public Transit Projects Around the Country “In cities and counties across the country — including Little Rock, Ark.; Phoenix, Ariz.; southeast Michigan; central Utah; and here in Tennessee — the Koch brothers are fueling a fight against public transit” through Americans for Prosperity funded local Chapters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/climate/koch-brothers-public-transit.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/26/koch-activists-phoenix-ban-light-rail
By torpedoing the high-speed rail and other public transit rail projects around the country, they make sure that their power and investments will stay intact for generations to come. Sametime the lives of millions of us and our future generations will be denied all the opportunities to succeed. While Millions of George Floyds all over this country are leading a miserable life in overcrowded cities, unable to Breath literarily with no hope or future for their kids. Politicians including Governors are becoming the instruments of these billionaire-funded political advocacy groups to carry out their agendas. I will try to explain this again using an example. We all know the Former Ohio Governor Josh Kasich who is has a net worth of $15 million, who has worked in lucrative corporate positions and now part-time working as a CNN Political commentator. This is the Same Governor who turned down the federal funding for the Ohio high-speed Rail Project to connect Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati. I have no way of connecting Koch’s networks with Dark money and to his Decision on this. I can only direct you to a pfaw.org article below . Quoting pfaw.orgs “In this by-invitation-only video, Ohio’s governor, John Kasich, sings praises to “the fighters of freedom, the grassroots leaders of American for Prosperity (AFP)”. While he was at it, he might have well just given a big thanks to Charles and David Koch, the financial sponsors of AFP, as well as large donors to the governor’s campaign.”
https://www.pfaw.org/blog-posts/ohio-gov-john-kasichs-secret-video/
But I can tell you how the Former Governor’s decision might have affected a poor father who worked in a low-paying job in Cincinnati and owned an old car which was only good enough for him to commute within Cincinnati City limits. Even if he had a good car, even if he finds a good job in the neighboring city of Columbus, it would take him at least 3 hours every day to commute in the I-71 rush hour traffic. If there was a high-speed rail between Cincinnati and Columbus, it would have taken him around 30 min to commute between Cincinnati to Columbus every day. While doing that a month, he would have even relocated his family and kids to a better neighborhood somewhere in between like the Mason Area. He could have even afforded a small home there and reduced his daily commute time even lower. His Kids could have gone to some better-rated schools instead of the ones in his Cincinnati neighborhood. But he was forced to Sacrifice all this so that Koch’s can still benefit from the amount of oil burnt every day on the backed-up rush hour traffic on I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus. He was forced to Sacrifice his future so that John Kasich can grow his net worth in Millions even after leaving his Governor’s office working as a Political commentator and maybe some other high-paying Corporate positions.
Now just assume that the new Governor Decides to bring back the Ohio High-Speed Rail project risking his political future by going against the wish of Koch’s and his political advocacy groups. Still the project would have failed or Delayed. The next strategy for these political advocacy groups is to go door to door Campaigning against the High-speed Rail construction through the Majority Neighborhoods, dog-whistling the fear of “Others” who will move to their neighborhoods along with High-Speed Rail, The potential changes in the racial makeup in counties HSR passes through lowering the real estate values, increase in crimes, The list goes on.
No one in any of these communities wants the real economic benefits and job opportunities the HSR will bring to their neighborhood. Because The fear of others will supersede everything. That’s where these political advocacy groups cash in. Also, No one will see the pain of that hardworking father who badly wants to get out of the crowded city for a better future for his kids.
On top of all this, When there is any talk about a huge Infrastructure investment in rail transportation to mobilize people to bring back the new type of manufacturing jobs, Trump and the Republican party interpret that as a big Democrat Agenda to move “low-income minorities” into your neighborhoods. How stupid and backward the idea is. States are nowadays passing very restrictive laws including voting restrictions to push people with liberal views out, mainly minorities. This will make the Red states more Red and Blue counties Bluer and more crowded. The only way to counter this activity is to shut down these lobbying firms and political advocacy groups and invest heavily in high-speed public transportation to make people relocate to all parts of this country.
Koch’s are just an example. The Waltons and Bezos are no different either, but the only difference is that they are on the other side of the political aisle, protecting their interest to keep the power and investments using the politicians we elect through their lobbyists. Like the said before, Senators or Representatives who protect the interests of the Ultra-Wealthy can have a secure political career and an upscale lifestyle. Once their term ends may be a wonderful million-dollar job in a lobbying firm.
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin has a houseboat called “Almost Heaven” when a good portion of the Democratic base has an “Almost hell” life. What an irony? He is the star in our two-party system because without his vote democrats cannot pass anything. He is using that to his advantage very well.
Please see the Washington Post article below on his houseboat.
Some news outlets called him a walking ethics Violation because of his interests and investments in the Coal sector while his key role is in deciding the fate of Clean energy. Being in the democratic party, he caters to the ultra-wealthy to move their agendas. I would like to use the phrase “wolf in a sheep’s coat” to describe the politicians who are influenced by the lobbying groups.
I am including a few articles from some Major news networks below on Joe Manchin’s ties to Koch’s backed Americans for prosperity and his interest and investment in the Coal industry.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/27/politics/joe-manchin-coal-interests/index.html
So I hoped that Biden would carry forward Obama’s Vision, when the Infrastructure bill got passed this year, I searched online to see how much they allocated for High-Speed Rail Tracks. Unfortunately, Hardly anything. The allocated $66 billion infrastructure package for rail is going Amtrak!!!!!!!!!!. As you know, Amtrak is a government-owned corporation that has 100s of millions of dollars operating losses every year. Last year it had an operating loss of $800million. At some point, Amtrak was on the brink of bankruptcy too. Anyway, Amtrak will be using this infrastructure package money to acquire around 73 new Diesel ALC-42 Siemens Charger Locomotives and passenger cars from Siemen’s mobility to primarily replace their existing P40 and P42 locomotives and do repairs on their existing infrastructure, improve train stations, and for some new routes. These ALC-42 Siemens Charger Locomotives have only a maximum speed of only 125 mph. In addition to this, Amtrak is contracting with Alstom to produce 28 trainsets that will replace Acela Trains for $2.45 Billion dollars.
https://media.amtrak.com/2020/08/amtrak-prepares-for-new-diesel-locomotive-fleet/
It does not matter how many new train sets Amtrak buys, they will be still be running below 90mph because their trains are using conventional tracks shared with freight trains and in most cases, the speed is limited to 79 mph or less. To exceed 90 mph, passenger tracks should be separated from freight tracks. Please see the hsrail.org article below on the high-speed rail requirements. “True high-speed rail to make trains go at 200mph requires dedicated electrified passenger tracks that are grade-separated from roads and other railroads” The United States still does not have those type of HSRs after all these years when other developed countries have tens of thousands of miles of HSRs in operation.
https://hsrail.org/high-speed-tracks
Hsrail.org – high speed rail track requirements and separation of Freight Trains
Also, Amtrak owns only 3% of the 21,400 route miles traveled by Amtrak trains, primarily on the Northeast Corridor from DC to Boston. The rest are owned by freight railroads, like BNSF or CSX. So how can they transform the railway tracks which they don’t even own using the money from the infrastructure bill? Amtrak also has long-lasting clashes with these freight railroad owners because Amtrak gets a lower priority than freight trains on these tracks which causes huge delays for passengers. Last year Amtrak graded all these freight railroads on the amount of delay caused to Amtrak passengers. 14 of 15 Long Distance routes fail to achieve 80% standard!. Please see the link below for the Report published on the Amtrak website.
Amtrak
Score Card for host Rail roads
I know that Koch’s will be happy with all these delays because, in addition to burning oil on the Roads, oil is burnt on the tracks too. Bottom line, People don’t prefer Amtrak for long-distance commutes mainly because of the slowness and delays. Even the fastest Acela trains which service the Northeast Corridor between New York and Boston speeds average 80 miles per hour because, in most areas, tracks don’t support faster speeds. There is only a 34-mile patch on two sections of its route between Boston and New Haven which supports the max speed of Acela which is 150mph. When Japan is rolling out the new SC Maglev trains which go at speeds of 370mph, we are investing in diesel locomotives that go at 80mph. Please see the Central Japan Railway Company link below to see the operation of Superconducting Maglev trains. You can go from NY-DC in an hour if it gets implemented here.
https://scmaglev.jr-central-global.com/
Again why would Biden Administration still spend 66 Billion to Renovate Amtrak? Amtrak has always performed badly and received federal funds up to 2 billion dollars annually to keep afloat. Please see the Statista graph link below which shows how long-distance train travel has lost out in the US over the years. It’s mainly because people want transportation to be affordable and fast and our trains meet neither of those requirements. High-Speed Rail is the only solution to make trains affordable and fast.
https://www.statista.com/chart/16947/miles-travelled-on-trains-planes-buses-in-the-us/
Statista Graph showing how Train travel loses out in US
Please see the Washington post article below which explains how the high-speed rail was omitted out of the 1.2 Trillion Infrastructure bill.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/18/infrastructure-bill-high-speed-rail/
Meantime the European Union nations and all the other developed nations are investing huge on high-speed rail to open opportunities for their people to commute inexpensively. Please see the article below from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute on high-speed Rail development worldwide. As per that article, the United States has just 54 km of high-speed rail in use and 190 km under construction when Other countries have tens of thousands of miles of High-speed rail already in operation or under construction.
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-high-speed-rail-development-worldwide
Why can’t our Government understand that If the high speeds rail gets implemented, Manufacturing and Agriculture will pick back up immediately and re-shore those jobs from other countries? The labor shortage you need now is going to disappear as well. If cities and states connect and Jobs are available, people will commute or relocate for sure. An electric bullet train may shorten the 200-mile commute to less than 1 hour. This will help a lot of people, especially the people of color to commute to other cities within the same state or even to other states where they can get a new job and settle somewhere in between where they can buy a house, breathe good air, lead a quality life, and have a backyard and also their kids can attend good schools too. Good health comes along with a good lifestyle. They can also visit back their relatives in Cities or send their kids to good colleges because commute will be affordable for everyone. Just imagine if there is a high-speed rail between LA and San Francisco. It broadens the Job opportunities of a person stuck in any City anywhere in between those metropolises. With access to high-speed rail and bullet trains, They can find a job within a 200-mile radius instead of looking for a job within a 20-mile radius in a local City Bus transport. In the same way, if there are interstate HSR’s, people in red counties can commute to Blue cities to find a job. Many of the red counties are plagued with opioid addiction because people are depressed because of unemployment due to the declining coal industry and loss of manufacturing jobs. So if they can commute to work in Cities, they will also have an opportunity to find a good-paying job.
I am saying all this because I lived in big cities like New York and Washington DC suburbs where I could afford to rent a 2 bedroom Apartment with my salary. In one place where we lived, our apartment was on the second floor of the complex and my small kids were even afraid to walk firmly inside because the couple living in the downstairs apartment will call the apartment office and complain as soon as they hear my kids run around. It went to the extent when on one of their birthdays the couple downstairs came up and shouted, and my little one was too afraid to play with his friends on his Birthday. So I wanted my kids to grow up in a house with a backyard to run around. But affording a small house was costing around $400,000 in big city suburban areas. So 12 years back, I put my family in a U-Haul truck and drove towards the middle of America where I could afford a house and have a decent life. We bought a house of our own where we can walk without fearing anyone complaining. We also have a fireplace and Chimney which made my kids believe that Santa cared for them too, unlike the apartments where we lived where there was no Chimney. The only reason I was able to relocate like that was because I relocated all my life for a better quality of life. Also, I was lucky that my company had a large presence and office where I relocated.
by Hari Ramachandran