Here's challenging article by Jim Battin, a State Senator. It's challenging because Battin is challenging the CHSRA and their empty fantasy claims. Finally, we are beginning to see more people saying that "the emperor isn't wearing any clothes."

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/COLUMNS26/803300302/1026/news12

March 30, 2008

High-speed rail plan off-track

Senator Jim Battin
Special to The Desert Sun

I know The Desert Sun disapproves, but I recently spent a week in Japan leading a bipartisan delegation that met government officials and studied the country's high-speed rail system. In November, Californians will be asked to approve our own high-speed rail project. From what I saw, firsthand, taxpayers need to approach the idea with great caution.

High-speed rail works in Japan because of the country's geographical uniqueness and the smart government policy decisions. The country is roughly the size of California, but has four times the number of people, 80 percent of whom are located in major urban centers.

In the 1980s, Japan National Railways was a public sector failure, running a yearly operating deficit, with a huge debt, declining ridership, high fares, and poor service. Japan broke up the public sector monopoly and created private, passenger-rail companies to serve different areas of the country and compete for the consumer's yen.

The three companies serving the most urban areas operate with no government assistance. One way they do this is by owning the key real estate around train stations, allowing the rail companies to operate retail centers that offset the cost of service.

 From my own experience, it is clear the Japanese "Shinkansen," or bullet train, model has been a success. Private-sector efficiencies reduced costs, while rail fares remained stable. The trains, operating at up to 186 mph, are clean, safe and service is readily available. Consumers responded by increasing ridership more than 20 percent.

Still, the service is not cheap. The line fare from Tokyo to Osaka, which at 251 miles is a little shorter then from Los Angeles to San Francisco, costs 13,200 yen, or about $130 one way. In contrast, Californians can find a flight from LAX to SFO on Southwest Airlines as low as $39 one way, and Southwest gets a traveler there in half the time.

I have concerns because the Japanese model and California's proposed rail line, initially funded by $9 billion in bonds, have significant differences. The line will stretch from San Diego to Los Angeles, cut through Riverside County, and run to San Francisco, with trains reaching speeds of 200 mph.

The plan itself has been a boondoggle even before voters have their say. The Legislature initially placed the bond on the 2004 ballot, but then moved it from one election to the other trying to "time" when both the state budget and economy were healthy. While waiting for that electoral magic, taxpayers have spent millions to fund a California High Speed Rail Authority that has had no rail to build.

The $9 billion bond gets the rail line started, but the authority estimates the total capital cost for the project at a staggering $25 billion, a figure definitely lowballed. To put this in perspective, each Californian will spend about $715 dollars, almost $3,000 per family of four, to subsidize high-speed rail. That's before they even get a chance to buy a ticket.

Of course there is no guarantee the rail service will be profitable. The proposal anticipates one-way fares set at only $55 in the year 2018 - a ridiculous presumption by a bureaucrat trying to "sell" the bond. Given Amtrak's sorry pattern of taxpayer bailouts, and Japan's own history with high-speed rail, government is bad at operating rail lines best run by the private sector.

This $3,000 subsidy will be the beginning of what California families will pay and pay and pay.

My Japan trip gave me tremendous insight. I am not opposed to high-speed rail in California, but we need to do it right, maximizing the private sector's role, and investment, and most importantly, protecting taxpayers.

AB 3034, currently in the Legislature, might help. The bill would encourage greater use of public-private partnerships and limit the amount of bond money spent on environmental studies and consulting fees. However, the bill needs a lot of work and is a long way from law. Right now, this proposal is not a rail we should be riding.

Senator Jim Battin, R- La Quinta, represents most of Riverside County and serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net


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