Beadles Blog
Volume II, No. 20 October 26, 2010
A Tale of Three Rail Tunnels
Within the past two weeks, three epic rail tunneling projects have been in the news, the most spectacular one being the breakthrough by the Swiss in their 35.4 mile Gotthard base rail tunnel under the Alps. According to news reports, this $10 billion tunnel, said now to be the longest in the world, will facilitate diversion of truck traffic to rail, thereby saving time, energy, and sparing the pristine environment some of the adverse impact associated with highway transport of cargo. While high-speed passenger trains will reportedly benefit from the new passage between northern Europe and Italy, it was said to be the appeal of diverting freight to rail that induced the Swiss to pony up to the tune of $1,300 each to fund the job. U.S., take note! Also, one cannot help but note that European Intermodal ("IM") rail cargo and passenger trains do manage to coexist!
Last week witnessed the 100th anniversary of Penn Station in New York. That vitally-important but inadequate rail passenger terminal is an embarrassing reminder of our nation's 1960's era desecration of rail. Now, fifty years later, it is the site of a costly effort to replace and augment some of what was earlier jettisoned. Here's hoping that forty years from now, perhaps before 2050, the current planners' vision for the new Moynihan rail terminal in downtown Manhattan will have been achieved. Seldom mentioned in the current news, is the fact that Penn Station was made possible by privately-constructed rail tunnels under the Hudson River, built by the privately-owned Pennsylvania Railroad. In fact PRR built it all, approaches, tunnels, stations, yards and terminals, with little if any public assistance. Moreover, PRR employed at that time perhaps 100,000 people in good paying jobs, paid various taxes, and created monumental infrastructure works that inured to the public benefit. If that were not enough, the railroad paid dividends, on a regular basis, for about 100 years. It was long known as a widows and orphans stock. One could, in that era, rely upon the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The third of our three tunnels was also in recent news, a proposed $9 billion commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson, largely funded by the Federal Transit Administration, which New Jersey Governor Christie proposes to scuttle out of concern that his cash-strapped state might be left holding the bag on cost over-runs. State-owned New Jersey Transit is a major operator of commuter rail service in the region, and would be the major beneficiary of the new rail route into lower Manhattan. Incidentally, Amtrak would derive little or no benefit due to the absence of a connection, via the new tunnel, to Penn Station. There is, however, a pressing need to replace, or augment, the 100-year-old PRR tunnels which provide most of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor ("NEC") passengers their only access to Manhattan. Hopefully, a better plan will ultimately result from Gov. Christie's action. Much NEC service is at some risk.
All of this leaves one wondering about how we do things in America. All of our transportation infrastructure needs are growing. Current funding is insufficient. Our rail infrastructure, in particular, is inadequate. As we go to the polls on November 2nd , these are points worth pondering.
(c) copyright 2010 Richard L. Beadles
Send rail policy questions, and questions about VRPI here.
Send mail to our webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.