ALBERT ABRAMS: Lesson of Spain's rail system strengthens HSR argument
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Albert Abrams
The recent article by Dr. Girish Patel concerning the California high-speed rail project based much of its argument on the high-speed rail system in Spain ("Learning from experience: Some thoughts on Spain's HSR," Community Voices, Jan. 19). The major argument seemed to be that the Spanish system is not financially self-sufficient. I believe that an examination of commuter rail systems throughout the world will show that most are not sustained by their revenue. Many are government-owned, and the national economies of these countries would collapse without the government support of intracity, commuter and intercity rail. Think Long Island RR; Boston transit; New York Port Authority; Amtrak; Chicago Transit Authority; the French and German rail systems. The writer inadvertently makes a strong argument for HSR when he writes, "The HSR systems in Spain and Europe have scuttled automobile travel and freight by rail." I believe this is exactly the impact we want from HSR in California. We want to reduce the amount of intercity travel that is done by cars and airplanes. And if freight can also take advantage of HSR, so much the better.
A dramatic reduction in intercity truck traffic will benefit every Californian who breathes the air -- and, as a side benefit, will reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. Furthermore it should be mandated that the trains and cars for the HSR system shall be designed and manufactured in the United States. If this causes further delay in the system, so be it. We have the technical skills and the manufacturing capability and we definitely need the jobs. I am appalled that this was not included in the mandate that set up HSR.
Historically, rail passenger service in the U.S. has been subsidized. The transcontinental passenger rail system in the U.S. was created because the government bribed the railroads with the gift of vast tracts of land. As soon as the U.S. rail companies could get out from under the mandate to provide passenger service they did exactly that.
But let's look closer at Spain and compare it to California. First, Patel implies that Spain does not have a viable auto industry. In fact, Opel, Volkswagen and Renault all have plants in Spain. Spain and California are two very different places: California has 164,000 square miles of land; Spain has 195,000. California has a population of 38 million; Spain has 46 million. Yet California has a gross domestic product of $1.9 trillion, which is 37 percent larger than Spain's. California is a technology powerhouse. Spain is not. While California currently has no auto manufacturing, we make planes, rockets, spacecraft, satellites. We have Apple, Google, North American Rockwell, TRW, you name it.
If, as Patel states, insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting a different result, I suggest that that is exactly what he is proposing. Natural gas and electric vehicles may indeed be part of the future, but not as substitutes for a high speed rail system. These technologies address energy utilization. They do not improve the transportation system in California and none will come into widespread use without the necessary infrastructure, and that means government support. A future dependent on the auto for long distance transport is a future of more and bigger freeways; more congestion; longer delays; more accidents.
Patel is justified in having pride in the progress that India is making. But if that country does not appropriately address its looming transportation problem, it will suffer the same fate as us: crowded freeways, massive air pollution, long traffic delays. India has over a billion people. Think of that country with the same number of cars per capita as the United States -- it's frightening.
There is no doubt that if and when California builds a high-speed rail system, there will be substantial disruption in the population distribution. The population distribution and transportation systems will change to accommodate HSR. But without HSR, we will be fighting last century's transportation problems and maybe its pollution problems. Think of the California of 20 or 30 years from now if we have HSR -- then imagine us without it.
Albert Abrams of Bakersfield is a retired aerospace engineer. Another View is a critical response to a previous editorial, column or news story.
