Passenger Rail

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Revitalizing Federal Highway Transportation Policy
Spending approximately $50 billion per year on roads and transit systems, the federal program supplements similar volumes of spending by state and local governments, also usually derived from a state-imposed fuel tax. Read More.

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WebMemo posted February 2, 2012 by Alison Acosta Fraser Will Transportation Reauthorization Be Another Big Spending Boondoggle?
As Congress gears up for another year, reining in spending and debt should top the agenda, but one issue heading squarely against that priority is reauthorization of the transportation program. The last transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, was marked by gluttonous excesses, which ranged from its porcine spending increases and wasteful spending…
Commentary posted January 11, 2012 by Emily Goff Bullet Train Rides on Falsehoods
Last week, the independent California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group recommended that the state legislature not proceed with funding the proposed Los Angeles–San Francisco project. Its argument was grounded in concerns about "the California High-Speed Rail Authority's plan to start construction without any assurance of future funding from the federal…
WebMemo posted September 1, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. High-Speed Rail: Stealth Budget Plans to Keep the Program Alive
They stab it with their steely knives, But they just can’t kill the beast. —The Eagles, “Hotel California,” 1977 With Congress eliminating spending for the President’s faltering high-speed rail (HSR) program and making cuts in Amtrak’s…
WebMemo posted July 7, 2011 by Wendell Cox, Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Using Market Processes to Reform Government Transportation Programs, Report No. 2: Improving Transit with Competitive Contracting
America’s transit systems confront serious financial challenges that will force them to raise fares and reduce service unless they can get better control of their costs. Carrying less than 5 percent of commuters and less than 2 percent of all urban travel and concentrated primarily in large urban areas, these…
WebMemo posted June 13, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Chairman Mica’s New Amtrak Proposal Would Use the Private Sector to Reform Passenger Rail
At May congressional hearings, Representative Jon Mica (R–FL), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, proposed (1) that 363 of the 456 miles that comprise the Northeast Corridor (NEC) owned by Amtrak be transferred to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) or a newly created government entity and…
WebMemo posted March 28, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. President Obama Sees Amtrak as Key to America’s Transportation
Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane, Ain’t got time to take a fast train. Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home,‘Cause my baby just a-wrote me a letter. …
WebMemo posted March 4, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. President Obama Busts the Budget for Pie-in-the-Sky Amtrak and “Livability” Proposals
President Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2012 is an unabashed attempt to grow government and add $1 trillion to the national debt. While a detailed review of the flaws in the President’s budget is beyond the scope of this paper,[1] one of the budget’s more fiscally…
WebMemo posted March 2, 2011 by Wendell Cox Federal Transit Programs: Spending More and More for Less and Less
Both the majority in the new Congress and the members of the Republican Study Committee recognize that federal transit programs have become a costly extravagance that provides minimal benefits in comparison to costs incurred. In turn, both have proposed that federal transit spending and government subsidies be cut back substantially…
Backgrounder posted February 11, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Time to End Obama’s Costly High-Speed Rail Program
Abstract: President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail program promises to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in federal and state funds to provide mediocre passenger rail service to an extremely small fraction of travelers. In this time of tight budgets, neither the federal government nor…
WebMemo posted February 9, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Setting Priorities for Transportation Spending in FY 2011 and FY 2012
The House Budget Committee has announced its discretionary federal spending target for the remaining eight months of fiscal year (FY) 2011, and the House Appropriations Committee subsequently provided details on how the 12 major program areas would have to be cut to meet that target. The transportation/housing account will receive…

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WebMemo posted September 8, 2010 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Infrastructure Stimulus Spending: Pandering to Organized Labor
As is apparent from President Obama’s declining approval ratings, the majority of Americans have lost confidence in the ability of Washington’s leadership to get the economy moving again. More to the point, many now recognize that the $814 billion in spending authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)…
Backgrounder posted February 11, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Time to End Obama’s Costly High-Speed Rail Program
Abstract: President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail program promises to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in federal and state funds to provide mediocre passenger rail service to an extremely small fraction of travelers. In this time of tight budgets, neither the federal government nor…
WebMemo posted February 2, 2012 by Alison Acosta Fraser Will Transportation Reauthorization Be Another Big Spending Boondoggle?
As Congress gears up for another year, reining in spending and debt should top the agenda, but one issue heading squarely against that priority is reauthorization of the transportation program. The last transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, was marked by gluttonous excesses, which ranged from its porcine spending increases and wasteful spending…
WebMemo posted March 2, 2011 by Wendell Cox Federal Transit Programs: Spending More and More for Less and Less
Both the majority in the new Congress and the members of the Republican Study Committee recognize that federal transit programs have become a costly extravagance that provides minimal benefits in comparison to costs incurred. In turn, both have proposed that federal transit spending and government subsidies be cut back substantially…
WebMemo posted July 7, 2011 by Wendell Cox, Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Using Market Processes to Reform Government Transportation Programs, Report No. 2: Improving Transit with Competitive Contracting
America’s transit systems confront serious financial challenges that will force them to raise fares and reduce service unless they can get better control of their costs. Carrying less than 5 percent of commuters and less than 2 percent of all urban travel and concentrated primarily in large urban areas, these…
Backgrounder posted September 20, 2007 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Congress Should Link Amtrak's Generous Subsidy to Improved Performance
In January 2007, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Trent Lott (R-MS) introduced the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 294), the most recent version of a costly Amtrak bailout bill that was introduced in the previous Congress.[1] In late May, the Senate Committee on Commerce,…
WebMemo posted June 13, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Chairman Mica’s New Amtrak Proposal Would Use the Private Sector to Reform Passenger Rail
At May congressional hearings, Representative Jon Mica (R–FL), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, proposed (1) that 363 of the 456 miles that comprise the Northeast Corridor (NEC) owned by Amtrak be transferred to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) or a newly created government entity and…
WebMemo posted September 1, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. High-Speed Rail: Stealth Budget Plans to Keep the Program Alive
They stab it with their steely knives, But they just can’t kill the beast. —The Eagles, “Hotel California,” 1977 With Congress eliminating spending for the President’s faltering high-speed rail (HSR) program and making cuts in Amtrak’s…
WebMemo posted January 24, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. How to Create an Effective Transportation Program in an Age of Fiscal Austerity
Early this year, the new Congress will confront several challenges relating to the size, scope, and nature of the federal surface transportation programs. These challenges will in large part be driven by the need to constrain overall federal spending and by shortfalls in the highway trust fund. Congress should embrace…
Backgrounder posted February 7, 2011 by Wendell Cox Urban Transportation Policy Requires Factual Foundations
Abstract: The 2010 Heritage Foundation report “Washington’s War on Cars and the Suburbs” disputed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s claims that public transit produces substantial economic benefits, consumes only one-fifth the energy of cars, and saves billions in other costs. The author of the 2004…

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WebMemo posted February 2, 2012 by Alison Acosta Fraser Will Transportation Reauthorization Be Another Big Spending Boondoggle?
As Congress gears up for another year, reining in spending and debt should top the agenda, but one issue heading squarely against that priority is reauthorization of the transportation program. The last transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, was marked by gluttonous excesses, which ranged from its porcine spending increases and wasteful spending…
WebMemo posted September 1, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. High-Speed Rail: Stealth Budget Plans to Keep the Program Alive
They stab it with their steely knives, But they just can’t kill the beast. —The Eagles, “Hotel California,” 1977 With Congress eliminating spending for the President’s faltering high-speed rail (HSR) program and making cuts in Amtrak’s…
WebMemo posted July 7, 2011 by Wendell Cox, Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Using Market Processes to Reform Government Transportation Programs, Report No. 2: Improving Transit with Competitive Contracting
America’s transit systems confront serious financial challenges that will force them to raise fares and reduce service unless they can get better control of their costs. Carrying less than 5 percent of commuters and less than 2 percent of all urban travel and concentrated primarily in large urban areas, these…
WebMemo posted June 13, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Chairman Mica’s New Amtrak Proposal Would Use the Private Sector to Reform Passenger Rail
At May congressional hearings, Representative Jon Mica (R–FL), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, proposed (1) that 363 of the 456 miles that comprise the Northeast Corridor (NEC) owned by Amtrak be transferred to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) or a newly created government entity and…
WebMemo posted March 28, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. President Obama Sees Amtrak as Key to America’s Transportation
Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane, Ain’t got time to take a fast train. Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home,‘Cause my baby just a-wrote me a letter. …
WebMemo posted March 4, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. President Obama Busts the Budget for Pie-in-the-Sky Amtrak and “Livability” Proposals
President Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2012 is an unabashed attempt to grow government and add $1 trillion to the national debt. While a detailed review of the flaws in the President’s budget is beyond the scope of this paper,[1] one of the budget’s more fiscally…
WebMemo posted March 2, 2011 by Wendell Cox Federal Transit Programs: Spending More and More for Less and Less
Both the majority in the new Congress and the members of the Republican Study Committee recognize that federal transit programs have become a costly extravagance that provides minimal benefits in comparison to costs incurred. In turn, both have proposed that federal transit spending and government subsidies be cut back substantially…
Backgrounder posted February 11, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Time to End Obama’s Costly High-Speed Rail Program
Abstract: President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail program promises to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in federal and state funds to provide mediocre passenger rail service to an extremely small fraction of travelers. In this time of tight budgets, neither the federal government nor…
WebMemo posted February 9, 2011 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. Setting Priorities for Transportation Spending in FY 2011 and FY 2012
The House Budget Committee has announced its discretionary federal spending target for the remaining eight months of fiscal year (FY) 2011, and the House Appropriations Committee subsequently provided details on how the 12 major program areas would have to be cut to meet that target. The transportation/housing account will receive…
Backgrounder posted February 7, 2011 by Wendell Cox Urban Transportation Policy Requires Factual Foundations
Abstract: The 2010 Heritage Foundation report “Washington’s War on Cars and the Suburbs” disputed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s claims that public transit produces substantial economic benefits, consumes only one-fifth the energy of cars, and saves billions in other costs. The author of the 2004…

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