Re: [NYC-Railroad] New Passenger Routes --- What is the answer?

["Philip J. Kuhl" <"PJKuhl_@_erols.com">]

Jack, I would not be hasty to point to Europe as an example of
privatization.

First off, with the exception of Germany, continental Europe's railways are
still nationalized and operate passenger service at a deficit.  Most of
those countries believe that the overall social benefits to having good
passenger service outweigh the cost of the government subsidies that need to
be added to ticket revenue to cover the costs of operations.

Second, in Germany and the UK, privatization efforts have not yet been
branded a success because the quality and reliability of service has gone
down under privatization while ticket prices have risen.  In the UK there is
a move afoot to consider renationalization of the passenger service.

Even Amtrak's Northeast Corridor isn't a stellar example:  Ticket revenues
certainly come close to covering operating costs (if they don't cover them),
but do not even make a dent in capitalization costs, costs for new
equipment, or costs for infrastructure maintenance and modernization
(catenary maintenance, catenary expansion to Boston, station modernization,
etc.).    If Amtrak's Northeast Corridor were a private business now, it
would fail.  And this is despite the Northeast Corridor's having a traffic
density that eclipses by far anything that the routes you proposed (New
York-Poconos, Utica-Lake Placid, and Pittsburgh-Cleveland) could ever dream
of operating, even in the glory days of passenger service before interstate
highways!

We had extensive private operation of passenger service in the US.  It
ultimately proved unprofitable (admittedly in part because of antiquated
labor laws and subsidized competition, but only in part).  That is what lead
to our nationalized service with Amtrak in 1971.

I'd challenge you to name a single country that has moved --successfully--
from a nationalized or quasi-nationalized rail passenger system to a
privatized one.  I can't think of a single example myself.

Phil Kuhl
Arlington, Virginia
"PJKuhl_@_erols.com"





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