www.railroad.net US Railroad News. 10th November 2011

Nebraska: One of America’s Top Railroad States
Posted: 10 Nov 2011 03:35 AM PST

There are many areas in the United States that take great pride in their ties to the railroad industry and Nebraska is certainly a state that belongs to this category.  In a recent article by the Lincoln Journal Star, Nebraska was proclaimed to be, per capita, “the railroad state of America.”
While there are surely some states that would argue with the title of railroad state of America, Nebraska’s railroad statistics are quite notable.  Omaha, Nebraska is home to two of the nation’s largest railroads, Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway, which combined to gross nearly $34 billion in revenue for the 2010 fiscal year.  Nebraska also boasts of being the nation’s second leading state in terms of freight railroad tons carried and third in railroad employment with 11,282 rail employees.  Moreover, when looking at rail employment on a per capita basis, Nebraska employs the most railroaders in the country.  Other Nebraska rail highlights include being third in railroad wages, being third in tons of farm product shipments originated with nearly 12% of the nation’s farm product rail traffic and having 12,000 rail retirees in the state.
Nebraska should be acknowledged as one of the country’s leading railroad states.  The fact that both of the nation’s largest railroads originated in Nebraska is something that the state will always be able to take great pride in, but more importantly, the state currently plays a pivotal role in shipping commodities, food products and other important products across the country.  Despite the fact that Nebraska is not first in all railroad categories, the state’s current and historical contribution to freight rail may be just enough to allow it to be considered the top railroad state in the United States, regardless of per capita numbers.


Amtrak’s Total Cost Put Into Perspective
Posted: 10 Nov 2011 02:21 AM PST

For the last several months, Amtrak has been attacked in Washington and in the general public as a waste of tax payers money.  In 2011 alone, Amtrak received $1.4 billion in taxpayer subsidies, which many feel is not a positive use of government funds.   The solution for this perceived problem has been to privatize the passenger rail provider and cut government ties.  Whether this is the correct path for Amtrak in the future is yet to be seen, but a recent report by the Economist has provided some information to put the heated Amtrak debate in perspective.
By comparing the actual cost of Amtrak to highways in the United States, it is discovered that Amtrak actually receives fewer dollars per passenger mile (ppm) than highways.  According to statistics provided by David.C of the GreaterGreaterWashington blog, Amtrak costs about $0.44 ppm, which is slightly less than the total cost of highways ($0.45 ppm).  David C.’s analysis breaks down the subsidy comparison into eleven categories: direct subsidy, air pollution, global warming, parking, resource consumption, crash damage, congestion, lost tax revenue, noise and transportation diversity.  Perhaps the most interesting part of the comparison was that in all categories besides direct subsidies, highways were notably more expensive than Amtrak service.
It should be noted that in some ways, David C.’s analysis of Amtrak’s costs creates its own controversy.  There are many parties who would feel that categories, such as parking and congestion should not be considered when looking at costs.  There are also parties who feel that cost per passenger mile is not even an accurate way of accessing Amtrak’s costs.
Although the categories compared can be considered controversial in their own right, the statistics presented about Amtrak’s true subsidiary costs should not be thrown out in the Amtrak debate.  When $1.4 billion in subsidies for a year is presented out of context, its easy to look negatively at the amount of money the government gives to Amtrak, but the total ppm of Amtrak reveals something quite different. Seeing that Amtrak actually costs less than highways may help to put the $1.4 billion in context.  It also helps to realize that Amtrak’s funding is not even half of a percent of the nation’s annual budget.  In the end, the debate over privatizing Amtrak will continue, but hopefully this information will help to sway some of those most critical of Amtrak funding.