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With Oil Over $107 a Barrel California Should Lead the Charge for High-Speed Rail

By Steve Blackledge
Legislative Director
California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG)

Last week oil prices hit a record $106 a barrel, and gas prices are hovering between $3.50 and $4 a gallon in many California cities. In fact, in the tiny coastal town of Gorda, about 40 miles south of Big Sur, the local gas station was selling gasoline for $5.19 a gallon over the weekend. Increasing evidence that the era of cheap oil is over is all around us.

Last week CALPIRG Education Fund released a new report, A Better Way to Go: Meeting America's 21st Century Transportation Challenges with Modern Public Transit, which examines the challenges faced by America's transportation system and the benefits of existing rail and bus projects across the country.

The report found that thanks to public transit, each year California saves more than 486 million gallons of oil, the rough equivalent of taking more than 800,000 cars off the road. As a result, California is far less dependent on oil than we otherwise would be and consumers are less susceptible to gas price spikes. Additionally, the state of California is committed to reducing our global warming pollution by 25% by 2020, a commitment that will be difficult to reach unless we reduce our dependence on cars. Public transit already prevents almost 3.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually.

The compelling benefits of existing public transit are all the more reason to invest and expand our public transit services, from local rapid bus lines to high-speed rail connecting our cities.

In fact, this November, California voters will have the opportunity to support a bond measure to cement the state’s commitment to building high-speed rail. The rail line would take up to 92 million car trips off the road each year and take 18 million travelers who would otherwise fly. That means a lot less traffic, a lot less pollution, and billions in avoided costs in road and airport expansions.

But for a project this big, the state’s top leaders must be fighting for it every step of the way. Governor Schwarzenegger has made expanding California’s transportation infrastructure a priority of his administration. But unfortunately, so far he’s focused mostly on investing in roads and highways. To get the funding that we need to start laying the tracks-- from federal, state, local, and private sources -- we need Governor Schwarzenegger's complete and unwavering support for high-speed rail. If we don’t, we’ll surely regret it when more gas stations start selling $5 a gallon gas.

Steve Blackledge provides policy and strategic guidance for the state PIRGs, primarily focusing on the issues of health care and consumer protection. Prior to this position, he spent five years as the legislative and policy director for CALPIRG, where his work led to new state-level policy reforms on issues ranging from health care and prescription drug costs, to Enron-style accounting scams, to protecting consumers from privacy invasions and identity theft.

Posted on March 11, 2008

Comments

If you can tell me how your going to get 200MPH trains through Soledad Canyon and over Tehachapi Pass, where current track speeds are as low as 20-25MPH...then I'll listen.

Be sure to factor in the presence of the San Andreas Fault in the same area. Come up with a number for a cost estimate. After I multiply that number by 50 times, I'll know how much it's gonna cost.

Without some real cost-benefit estimates, your "feel good" approach to this extremely expensive proposal is empty promises.

By the way, their isn't an oil shortage per se that drove the cost per barrel up to $106, it is a weakening dollar on the world market...

The dollar is weak because the country borrows too much from other countries...

Just like the State of California's government is financially weak because it borrows too much, is in debt, and floats too many Bond proposals which add up.

You want to place this train into that matrix too?

Posted by: Jay Gould at March 11, 2008 07:51 AM

The biggest impediment to high-speed rail will be the commuter airlines that fly up and down California.

It's unfortunate the state dumbed the project down from a mag-lev system to a simple steel-wheel system. With the vestiges of our aerospace industry, California could have become the world leader in mag-lev transportation.

Posted by: Grommitt at March 11, 2008 06:19 PM

@ above:
High speed rail gets it's own track, so it goes uphill at 200+ mph. It's estimated to cost is $40 Billion in CA, but you can't compare that to our debt, you have to compare it to what we'll pay if we don't build it (at least $80 Billion to expand freeways and airports, while increasing carbon emissions, pollution, and stress from driving & flying). It's not a bad deal. HSR is lucrative, companies are willing to invest in long-term infrastructure (PPPs), because it pays off. Look up the TGV, Thalys, Eurostar, or Shinkansen.

HSR is already competitive with short-haul flying (time-wise), and will be much much more competitive after carbon controls (economically).

Maglev is unrealistic from a technological standpoint, and would take too much extra R&D investment for how uncertain the technology is. Steel wheels have worked for over 40 years without fatality, at speeds as high as maglev. Again: France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Spain have HSR and Argentina and other nations are building it. We're far behind, with respect to transportation. It's about time we catch up.

Posted by: Ian Leighton at March 12, 2008 06:33 PM

Ian,

In your zest for HSR, you didn't quite say how a 200MPH train was going to UP & DOWN a grade intense area like Tehachapi Pass (recall the Tehachapi Loop?) let alone how it would stay on the tracks in the same area with the existing sharp curves. Long tunnels? Near the San Andreas fault?

Sure, HSR gets its "own" track, but you build that new right of way on steep grades and sharp curves territory. "Straightening" them all out and reducing the grade would be cost prohibitive.

Most of the existing HSR you mention runs on relatively flat terrain...

Posted by: Jay Gould at March 12, 2008 09:26 PM

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