Submitted to a Candid World

The closest thing Texas has to a commuter rail. Mind the gap.

It’s no secret that President Obama takes more than a few pages from Franklin Delano Roosevelt – and as a progressive, Keynesian politician entering office in the middle of a financial maelstrom, he’s wise to do so. In an effort to create jobs, FDR embarked on massive public works projects, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, which electrified the South, jump-starting its economy and local standards of living. We can debate over whether this infusion of capital ended the Depression, but one undeniable fact is that its benefits continue to inure to the American public, sixty years later.

Now, Obama stands poised to emulate FDR with his own infrastructure plan, likely to include new bridges, roads, and (to a smaller degree) rail. If Obama’s aim is to create a lasting public works legacy for America, though, as well as create permanent jobs, he’d do well to think more ambitiously on the last point, and consider expanding the nation’s currently grim-to-nonexistent interstate commuter rail system. Although America is obviously bigger than our European counterparts, this size alone is insufficient to account for America’s abyssmal public rail system, a failing that relegates the traveling public (and especially regional businessmen) to either expensive and environmentally unfriendly air travel, or time-consuming and equally polluting road-trips. Thankfully, Obama thinks as I do on this point: he’s on record praising Europe’s rail system as an example to America. But let’s talk ideas to action.

When Bush’s Department of Transportation departed, they left plans on the table to develop up to eleven high-speed rail corridors nationwide – including two that, if completed, could knit the deep South to Texas’ financially flush eastern “triangle” (Dallas, Houston, Austin). Obama’s DoT should explore the potential of public/private partnerships to achieve this ambitious goal.

Any way you cut it, developing inter-state commuter rail in these regions is a winning idea. Southern/Texan companies and professional firms that succeed locally, or in their home states, face large transaction cost barriers to outward expansion, owing to the distances between major metropoles. Speaking from experience, executives and professionals in these companies are left to choose between foregoing expansion, squandering valuable time on the highway, or budgeting substantial amounts of money for air travel. Commuter rail systems would alleviate these burdens while encouraging expansion and competition between regional markets, enabling the kind of capital growth necessary for job creation while knitting diverse parts of our nation closer together (ask the Romans what ease of transit does for national unity). The Keynesian goal of public works – providing jobs in the creation and maintenance of utilities – would be quite secondary to the capital growth potential. What the Acela did for finance, a Southern/Texan rail system could do for any number of industries.

Don’t get me wrong. As a onetime resident of both Atlanta and Houston, I love my Dairy Queen-powered road trips as much as the next guy. But the prospect of a two-hour shot between Houston and Austin, freed from the responsibility and expense of driving myself, is rather intoxicating, and nations only benefit from accessibility.

While I would also love to have commuter rail more readily available (anyone checked the prices of Amtrak lately?) we have to be careful to prioritize rail development by economic impact. Heavy rail needs attention first, commuter rail second and light rail last (if at all).

Comment by Mike at The Big Stick January 24, 2009 @ 11:10 am

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Fellow Hustonian here and a two hour train ride to San Antonio would make for nice weekend trip. By the way, you still living here Ames?

Comment by Jello January 24, 2009 @ 10:56 pm

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Sadly I’m not there anymore: I’d love to be in a year or so, though, so talk to any federal judges you know to get that ball rolling ;-).

And Mike, you’re right, heavy rail is probably most important.

Comment by Ames January 25, 2009 @ 9:57 am

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It takes longer to get freight from calgary to chicago than it does to get through Chicago itself. Of course there are a million ancillary issues like right-of-way, etc but I see the economic impact there as being the strongest.

http://thebigstick.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/railroad-woes-another-example-of-failing-infrastructure/

Comment by Mike at The Big Stick January 25, 2009 @ 6:37 pm

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