The Obama Administration’s latest proposal to spend $53 billion on an intercity high-speed passenger rail network over the next six years is surprising given the Administration’s previously announced (and unfunded) plans to invest in the nation’s current infrastructure. So, when Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the high-speed passenger rail plan last month, it was met with a mix of support and utter dismay.

Whether deemed good or bad, it is important to stay focused on what this particular spending plan is all about. In my view, there are two points to consider:

1)  This type of “nice-to-have” passenger rail service is a long-term project that diverts already scarce resources from the “must have“ needs of repairing and expanding existing infrastructure.

2)  Because Class 1 railroads need to upgrade existing rail lines to accommodate “high speed” passenger trains, so far, the vast majority of high-speed rail funds — which are public subsidies — have gone directly to the Class 1 railroads.

The annual cost of the entire federal program for highway and transit projects in the United States is about $50 billion. With this proposal, the Administration suggests spending an entire year’s worth of surface transportation funds to move bits and pieces of high speed rail projects forward.  With the general consensus that the United States has underinvested in its current infrastructure and the result is a current infrastructure that is contributing to congestion and related inefficiencies, it is critical that our transportation spending be re-prioritized. Pushing high-speed rail based on unsubstantiated outcomes is probably not the best use of these limited resources.

Improving our existing transportation infrastructure is what the President promised and that is what is most needed right now. High-speed rail won’t help the vast number of Americans, particularly those in rural areas. Improved highways and transit mobility will.

In an October 2010 USA Today article about high-speed rail, Randal O’Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, perhaps said it best:

"Fundamentally, transportation technology improves when we come up with technologies that are faster, more convenient and less expensive than old technology. High-speed rail is slower than flying, less convenient than driving and five times more expensive than either one."

Highway and other freight systems are all about mobility and moving the economy. High-speed inter-city passenger rail is about the same, but they are not substitutes for one another, yet this is the choice we are being asked to make.

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