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Reality based view of transportation funding
Author: Silver Shadow
Date: 12-17-2015 - 19:57
Christopher Hitchens Wrote:
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> Silver Shadow Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Christopher Hitchens Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Just like the free
> > > loading, has-been, loser trucking industry in
> > this
> > > country. They are short FIFTY THOUSAND
> > drivers
> > > but complain how they can't hire anybody due
> to
> > > lack of qualification.
> >
> > I'm not a fan of the trucking industry, but on
> > what basis do you characterize the trucking
> > industry as "free loading?"
>
> They use a 100% publicly subsidized highway
> system. Railroads pay their own way.
Trucking companies, like other motorized users of highways pay fuel taxes. Therefore, your statement has no basis in reality.
One can argue that truckers do not pay enough for the roads. But that's completely different than stating that truckers are "freeloaders."
To claim that railroads pay their own way also indicates you're not paying attention. There have been many publicly-funded freight rail improvements. Here are just a few:
1) The federal investment in Conrail ($8 - $9 Billion)
2) Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles
3) Pennsylvania's program to increase clearances for double-stack trains
4) State-funded rail programs. For example, the State of Florida Oregon spends $50 - $100 million annually on freight rail projects. The State of Vermont invested in former Rutland Railway lines to create the Vermont Rail System.
5) Federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants have been used for projects such as the Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Rail Project in Tennessee and Alabama ($105 million) and the National Gateway Corridor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland ($98 million).
If you want to claim that railroads pay for more of their costs than trucking companies, go ahead. However, there are so many examples of publicly-funded freight rail projects that the claim that "railroads pay their own way" that it is not a valid description of reality.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Silver Shadow Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Christopher Hitchens Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Just like the free
> > > loading, has-been, loser trucking industry in
> > this
> > > country. They are short FIFTY THOUSAND
> > drivers
> > > but complain how they can't hire anybody due
> to
> > > lack of qualification.
> >
> > I'm not a fan of the trucking industry, but on
> > what basis do you characterize the trucking
> > industry as "free loading?"
>
> They use a 100% publicly subsidized highway
> system. Railroads pay their own way.
Trucking companies, like other motorized users of highways pay fuel taxes. Therefore, your statement has no basis in reality.
One can argue that truckers do not pay enough for the roads. But that's completely different than stating that truckers are "freeloaders."
To claim that railroads pay their own way also indicates you're not paying attention. There have been many publicly-funded freight rail improvements. Here are just a few:
1) The federal investment in Conrail ($8 - $9 Billion)
2) Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles
3) Pennsylvania's program to increase clearances for double-stack trains
4) State-funded rail programs. For example, the State of Florida Oregon spends $50 - $100 million annually on freight rail projects. The State of Vermont invested in former Rutland Railway lines to create the Vermont Rail System.
5) Federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants have been used for projects such as the Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Rail Project in Tennessee and Alabama ($105 million) and the National Gateway Corridor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland ($98 million).
If you want to claim that railroads pay for more of their costs than trucking companies, go ahead. However, there are so many examples of publicly-funded freight rail projects that the claim that "railroads pay their own way" that it is not a valid description of reality.
