Randal O’Toole, senior fellow with the Cato Institute released a new policy report today urging taxpayers to look closely at the so-called “success” behind high speed rail. The full report is available here. The agencies that spend taxpayer dollars building these lines almost invariably call them successful even when they go an average of 40 [...]
- Mar08
The High-Speed Money Train Continues
Where should Obama look for his high-speed rail revival? No further than the Acela rail services along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor-that is, according to Christian Wolmar of the NYTimes. Connecting Washington DC and Boston, the tracks offer the best “test case” for Obama to demonstrate high speed rail efficiency. Here are some highlights of the article: [...]
- Feb17
North Carolina to be saddled with long-term drain on resources
At least that’s how the headline for this story about federal stimulus funds coming to North Carolina for high-speed rail projects should have read. As this Heartland Institute article points out, high-speed rail lines are nothing to celebrate: Nowhere in the world does high-speed rail make a profit. The director of high-speed rail at the [...]
- Jan28
What a Waste of Money
If you wanted to increase travel efficiency between Raleigh and Charlotte, what is the better use of $520 million? 1. Upgrade a rail line (but not fully) that serves a few hundred people per day that could possibly grow to a couple of thousand people per day. 2. Replace the Yadkin River Bridge ($300M) and [...]
- 1Oct12
Rosy rail corridor…umm no
The N&O reveals (yet again) that it failed Economics 101. Taking cues from a new study put out by the Brookings Institution, the editorial praises the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor as the obvious choice to lighten air travel. The study concluded that 1.1 million people flew last year between RDU airport and either Charlotte or [...]