Democrat Ned Lamont is finally out with his plan for infrastructure and transportation in the state. Most of it is the usual rehash of platitudes, but he does have some specific proposals. One, which has been much discussed in the last few months, is Lamont's idea to put tolls back on CT highways and to use the money raised for infrastructure projects. It's just another tax dressed up as a remedy for bad roads.
More important, however, is Lamont's plan for passenger railroads across the state. The biggest point these is Lamont's view as to the future of Metro North. Here's a direct quote from Lamont's plan:
We can bring travel time from New Haven to New York down to one hour and 15 minutes through improvements to our current line. I also support investment in high speed rail that will bring travel times to under one hour.
That sounds nice, doesn't it. That is, of course, until you start thinking about what this all would mean.
1. Cutting travel time to one hour and 15 minutes from New Haven to NYC would require enormous expenditures and purchase of new equipment. Right now, the trip takes 23 minutes longer on the express trains in the morning. Further, Metro North is already running to capacity into Grand Central in New York. There is no way to add capacity easily. Is it worth spending billions of dollars to save 23 minutes when it would take tens of billions more to be able to increase capacity? The simple answer is no.
2. The pledge to put in high speed rail is much more dangerous. That would not only cost many tens of billions of dollars, but it would also cause major chaos across Fairfield County. It is possible with major expenditures to raise train speeds so that the trip from New Haven to New York would take less time. To put in high speed rail, however, the tracks across Connecticut would have to be straightened. Trains travelling 150 mile per hour can't go around bends without flying off the track. The tracks of Metro North have many more curves than would be tolerable for a high speed train. In order to straighten the track hundreds of homes and businesses near the tracks would have to be relocated. New bridges would have to be built over roads. The cost could be forty billion dollars and major dislocation in Fairfield county. And if Lamont wants to have high speed rail across the entire state, then the dislocation along the tracks in eastern CT would be even greater. East of New Haven, the train lines have even more curves than in Fairfield County.
Lamont's pledge to build high speed rail is nothing more than using one of the Democrats' big talking points of the Obama years. President Obama pledged high speed rail in just about each State of the Union Address. It was going to revitalize the economy. It was going to perform miracles. Of course, in nearly every instance that individual states looked at the cost and the benefit from high speed rail, the state rejected it. It costs too much and provides too little. Indeed, only California made a major commitment to high speed rail. That commitment in California has so far cost sixty billion dollars and resulted in a high speed line that goes nowhere. Only the portion out in the farmlands has been built. There are no plans underway to build the portion of the line that will go into the major cities. It's just too expensive.
This plan by Lamont shows that he has not thought the matter through. Once again, his only real plan is to raise taxes, this time by instituting tolls on our highways. The plan to improve rail service is a non-starter. Were Lamont actually to carry it out, Connecticut would just have new enormous bills to pay with very little benefit from all those expenditures. It's a typical Lamont plan.
More important, however, is Lamont's plan for passenger railroads across the state. The biggest point these is Lamont's view as to the future of Metro North. Here's a direct quote from Lamont's plan:
We can bring travel time from New Haven to New York down to one hour and 15 minutes through improvements to our current line. I also support investment in high speed rail that will bring travel times to under one hour.
That sounds nice, doesn't it. That is, of course, until you start thinking about what this all would mean.
1. Cutting travel time to one hour and 15 minutes from New Haven to NYC would require enormous expenditures and purchase of new equipment. Right now, the trip takes 23 minutes longer on the express trains in the morning. Further, Metro North is already running to capacity into Grand Central in New York. There is no way to add capacity easily. Is it worth spending billions of dollars to save 23 minutes when it would take tens of billions more to be able to increase capacity? The simple answer is no.
2. The pledge to put in high speed rail is much more dangerous. That would not only cost many tens of billions of dollars, but it would also cause major chaos across Fairfield County. It is possible with major expenditures to raise train speeds so that the trip from New Haven to New York would take less time. To put in high speed rail, however, the tracks across Connecticut would have to be straightened. Trains travelling 150 mile per hour can't go around bends without flying off the track. The tracks of Metro North have many more curves than would be tolerable for a high speed train. In order to straighten the track hundreds of homes and businesses near the tracks would have to be relocated. New bridges would have to be built over roads. The cost could be forty billion dollars and major dislocation in Fairfield county. And if Lamont wants to have high speed rail across the entire state, then the dislocation along the tracks in eastern CT would be even greater. East of New Haven, the train lines have even more curves than in Fairfield County.
Lamont's pledge to build high speed rail is nothing more than using one of the Democrats' big talking points of the Obama years. President Obama pledged high speed rail in just about each State of the Union Address. It was going to revitalize the economy. It was going to perform miracles. Of course, in nearly every instance that individual states looked at the cost and the benefit from high speed rail, the state rejected it. It costs too much and provides too little. Indeed, only California made a major commitment to high speed rail. That commitment in California has so far cost sixty billion dollars and resulted in a high speed line that goes nowhere. Only the portion out in the farmlands has been built. There are no plans underway to build the portion of the line that will go into the major cities. It's just too expensive.
This plan by Lamont shows that he has not thought the matter through. Once again, his only real plan is to raise taxes, this time by instituting tolls on our highways. The plan to improve rail service is a non-starter. Were Lamont actually to carry it out, Connecticut would just have new enormous bills to pay with very little benefit from all those expenditures. It's a typical Lamont plan.
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