Bringing Good Jobs to the Valley via HSR
Thanks to Alon Levy and datacruncher for pointing me to this excellent Fresno Bee op-ed by Eli Setencich that takes a nice satirical look at all the economic activity that would come by not building high speed rail:
Think about it. With more freeways you have more people driving, more rubber hitting the road — cars, SUVs, big rigs. In nature’s way, this will require the formation of who knows how many more air pollution districts and experts running them to clean the air of exhaust muck.
Needless to say, as traffic increases on all the new and improved freeways, so would the number of incidents of road rage and the ensuing fist fights that invite gawkers and invariably result in gridlock. This, obviously, would require the addition of a small army of Highway Patrol officers to maintain law and order….
And let’s not forget ambulances and all the medics who will be needed to help clean up the wreckage and tend to the wounded. Not to be macabre, but an unavoidable consequence is the fact it means more morticians and grave diggers as well….
As you can see, the ripple effect continues no end. You don’t have to be a Nobel Laureate, for instance, to figure out what will happen to all the airports around the state: Runways expanded, more and more flights added and most importantly hundreds of people hired to check your shoes and socks and pat you down before boarding. That’s not counting those whose jobs would be to track down and return sooner or later luggage that flies one way and you another. That in itself has the prospect of becoming a growth industry with job openings galore.
The unspoken contrast here is between a ridiculous status quo that doesn’t create jobs that have lasting value, where we are dependent on a transportation system based on a fossil fuel whose price has been on a constant 10-year rise, and a future where HSR can actually be used to bring capital investment and good jobs to the Valley.
HSR opponents are the people who think that everything is going just fine. Setencich aims his criticisms at Devin Nunes and Jeff Denham, two Congressional Republicans who like the rest of their party have done virtually nothing to address the unemployment crisis. To them, jobs don’t really matter. HSR will help reverse that.
Thanks for the plug, but I got it from a comment a few posts ago by datacruncher.
datacruncher Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 7:49 am
Thanks for the credit Alon. I had posted it in the comments to the last blog post (I thought it provided a nice contrast to the Dennis Wyatt column).
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Sorry about that.
In other news, commentary about connecting services (streetcars):
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2011/10/10/the-appeal-of-modern-streetcars-continues-to-mount-but-there-are-obstacles-to-it-bringing-mobility-gains/
And the psychology of some of our best potential customers:
http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2011/10/choice-riders-will-put-up-with-all.html
Finally, a plug for Clem and his recent commentary on PTC:
http://caltrain-hsr.blogspot.com/2011/10/meanwhile-in-rio.html
Keeping an eye on the competition:
http://www.ecogeek.org/efficiency/3614-electric-plane-flies-200-miles-in-two-hours-wins-n?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EcoGeek+%28EcoGeek%29
Peter Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 7:06 am
It’ll be a long time before electric planes are practical for anything other than the occasional pleasure flight. For training or travelling, you’re going to need the capability for a fast recharge.
Paulus Magnus Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 7:21 am
Not to mention energy capacity and density, which oil beats batteries at handily.
Peter Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 7:37 am
Boeing flew a fuel-cell electric airplane in 2008, but it too is FAR from ready for prime-time.
Max Wyss Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:31 am
And a solar-powered aircraft flew from Payerne to Paris to Bruxelles and back earlier this year. In fact, it was one of the stars of the air show at Le Bourget…
Peter Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:39 am
Hehehe, I wonder how the solar-powered airplane would do during night cross country training…
Max Wyss Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Batteries and altitude. You find more details here: http://www.solarimpulse.com
The founder, Bertrand Piccard, is member of the Piccard family, known for aeronauts and aquanauts…
Peter Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Yes, I’m perfectly aware that solar-powered airplanes have flown at night using batteries. My point was that solar and electric flight is not ready for the nitty-gritty of general aviation. As in, have the plane fly 5 flights a day, one of which is a cross-country at night.
And for starship captains, too, it appears. ;)
Alon Levy Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Meh. Canadians are much better at it.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Another point is that all of these alternative aircraft wind up going back to some form of propeller propulsion. As I recall, there are limits to what you can do with propellers, mainly having to do with the tips going supersonic at the higher rpm ranges you need for flying just under the supersonic range that jetliners operate in.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:33 am
Another look at potential competition:
http://freedomtransit.com/
Comments about this as posted on the Infrastructurist by Freedom Tranist’s principle owner, Jim Beregi, on the subject “Can High Speed Rail Be Saved?”
“High-Speed Rail should not be saved. It is far to expensive, and would have trouble producing enough revenue to cover expenses. Freedom Transit is an alternative that costs less and will generate significant revenue. Freedom Transit is an electric car based transportation system for the future and it does not need government funding. It is a complete door to door transportation system.”
Basically, this is an automated highway system using electric cars, drawing power from the road system. It is not mentioned how the power is transmitted to the cars, whether it by by some sort of rail contacts or by an inductive system.
The fun part? Beregi estimates this to run between $3 and $4 trillion over 20 years!
A telephone directory search has a listing for a Jim Beregi, and lists his age at 68. Could this emphasis on an alternative car be part of the generational factor discussed here?
Alon Levy Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:45 am
He’s far from the first person proposing a harebrained scheme. Interstate Traveler, tubular rail, PRT, whatever – if you can concoct it, someone’s seriously proposed it.
Peter Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:50 am
There are plenty of PRT loons out there that aren’t old.
The Fresno city council was dished out a huge dose of reality at the Oct 6th workshop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grjZplLL0h0
Their staff told them of businesses being forced to close and plenty of other hardships being brought upon them during the construction of the project.
The council seemed pretty much of the opinion, “that’s jsut too bad”.
If construction starts next year, for 5 to 6 years they will suffer there. Then, what will be left is an “orphaned” section of pretty much useless track ( still needing to be upgraded in order to be a part of any HSR electrically powered train).
One might wonder if in 30 or 40 years further out, there might be a destruction effort to remove it and the blight it will have caused, as no further extension of the project ever came to pass.
Yes indeed, shades of the Embarcadero freeway, now gone, thank heavens, from SF.
Peter Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:41 am
Morris, we already discussed the video from the council meeting a couple of days ago.
Job losses may be the first-perceived effect when an HSR line is opened.
For instance, Paris-Lyon TGV led to the demise of Air Inter, France’s largest internal airline whose main source of profit was the Paris-Lyon air shuttle. It also caused loss of business in airport shops and restaurants, airport bus and taxi companies. Drivers opting for the TGV (they were called “converts”) caused one-night bookings in many hotels to drop by 30% as people could do in one day what used to take two when driving.
All these losses were more than compensated by the appearance of new business opportunities and far more jobs were created than destroyed. The trouble is job destruction is brutal (and thus newsworthy) while job creation may go unnoticed by popular media. The “Air Inter tragedy” made prime-time news while TGV-induced development was only discussed in late night talk shows.
Most of the negative consequences can be explained by how unprepared business circles and city officials were in 1981. No one expected HSR to be a game changer. The success of the TGV caught everybody off their guard. SNCF is partly responsible for it because it had grossly underestimated ridership.
Nowadays, there is no excuse for lack of preparation. City officials and business executives are supposed to know what HSR can do or undo and will plan accordingly. Wait-and-see is bad because jobs will be killed before new ones are created. Anti-HSR media will be on the look-out for that sort of thing.
I can’t wait to see a blog post about a concrete date to break ground on the HSR project; then all the naysayers will have to quiet down a bit. There’s so many ways this will create new jobs. Anyone who thinks otherwise has their blinders on or is in the pockets of Chevron.
Thanks Robert for working so hard to keep the dream alive.
VBobier Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Me too, But I doubt they’ll shut up, not until HSR is up and running and then I’m sure they’ll try and find something to nit pick about to no avail.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Something to ponder–this country fights over $8 billion for the whole nation, but France dedicates $30 billion for one city:
http://frepubtra.blogspot.com/2011/10/us-fighting-over-8b-for-transit-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreePublicTransit+%28Free+Public+Transit%29
Hit one thing, and you see another:
http://www.deathbycar.info/
http://www.deathbycar.info/hall-of-mirrors/
Alon Levy Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Don’t get excited. Until the ARC cancellation, New York’s various agencies were planning to spend about as much money on transit projects: $8b for ARC, $8 for ESA, $5b for SAS, $2b for the 7 extension, $1b for the useful part of Fulton. The difference is that because of different construction costs, New York was getting about one tenth as much tunnel length as Paris for the same price. Aren’t you glad you live in America?
adirondacker12800 Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
…But they don’t get stegosaurus entrance canopies do they? Or half billion dollar light wells…
Another look at potential competition, in this case, airports–including a number that aren’t doing too well for a variety of reasons:
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/10/10/6-of-the-most-underused-airports-in-the-world/#comments