Really trying

Okay, the title has more than one meaning, in fact, more than two, but I was only thinking of one. Today, I’m going to really try to avoid mentioning two things: 1, the name of a certain now-deceased railroad CEO, and, 2, the technical name of a certain government-mandated railroad safety system which many mistakenly believe will prevent most railroad accidents.

Unfortunately, like the media can’t avoid mentioning Trump, I’ve had to write blogs incorporating those two things several times in past weeks.

Lots of other things are happening in railroading and passenger rail in North America.

Take California Governor Jerry Brown, please. (Rimshot!) But please, don’t take him seriously. In has last state of the state address, he characterized the problem-plagued California planned, high-speed, all renewable electric railroad as fast, quiet, and something that will “last 100 years.” I’m serious. So is Brown. Unfortunately, I think he really believes the statement is true.

There are few pieces of public infrastructure that can claim to have lasted 100 years, and most rail systems are not among them.

There are exceptions. The Chicago ‘L’, as old as it is, has not been in its present form for 100 years, and many parts of the system that were built over 100 years ago have been gone for many years. Many other older cities have either rapid transit or light rail systems that can trace back over 100 years. New York and Philadelphia, for instance.

Those systems were built when civil engineering tended to overbuild, using heavy materials that tended to last much longer than todays lightweight stuff. I guarantee that none of the cars or power units for those systems are still in regular operation and did not make it to 100 years. Those systems were also built by private enterprise that invested heavily because it was thought there would be heavy returns on that investment.

Look to the Interstate system to see what’s going to happen with Cal’s high-speed system. Over that century envisioned by Gov. Brown, the system will, like the Interstates, absorb many times its initial cost in maintenance. Even then, it is likely to have many parts that will need wholesale replacement, particularly bridges and tunnels, in a state also prone to earth movement.

Ironically, if Hyperloop trains begin to take shape, it’s likely Cal’s rail system will be obsolete before it is finished.

Is Gov. Brown dreaming? My answer would be: Much of California is dreaming. Those that aren’t are already on their way out of the state.

Okay, I’ve flogged California enough for one post. How about this? Last week, I went over the facts and suppositions of the Sunday, February 4, Amtrak crash. The media have picked up on the fact that, even if CSX was at fault for the crash, as it appears to be, Amtrak—meaning you and me, J. Taxpayer—will be responsible for paying for settlements or judgments in any and all injury claims brought, even those against CSX itself. It seems that it has been a little known, if not secret, fact that Amtrak’s contracts with the freight railroads require this.

Amtrak is at the mercy of the freight railroads, except in certain cases where it owns the tracks. The vast majority of Amtrak route miles are on tracks owned by the freight railroads, and Amtrak depends on those railroads to make their schedules. After several high-profile accidents where the railroads were at fault, Amtrak apparently and secretly was told in no uncertain terms by the railroads that if they wanted to continue to operate on the railroads’ tracks, they must shoulder the burden of all payments of claims, even in the case of gross negligence by the railroad.

The Cayce crash of February 4 is the first in a long time where lawsuits already filed, perhaps rightly, blame the freight railroad and want it to pay. It’ll be interesting to see what the courts think of Amtrak’s little secret arrangement to keep things moving, and if they view it as a certain kind of coercion by the freight railroads, as do I.

©2018 – C. A. Turek – mistertrains@gmail.com

(Charles A. Turek is a writer and novelist based in Albuquerque, NM. After four decades working in areas of the insurance industry related to transportation, he now writes on all aspects of American railroading. Charles is a political conservative but believes in public funding of passenger rail as a part of the federal government’s constitutionally conservative obligation to provide for defense and public infrastructure so that private enterprise may flourish.)