Rail Expert Reutter: White House Misfired on High-Speed Rail Stimulus

Mark Reutter, author of the industrial tome Making Steel and a veteran editor of Railroad History, can safely be called an expert on the train industry. And in a new memo for the Progressive Policy Institute, he is issuing a warning to the Obama administration on its high-profile push for high-speed rail.

California's high-speed rail project, above, got $2.25B last month for a line expected to cost at least $40B. (Photo: CAHSRA)

If high-speed rail thinkers can be divided into two
schools of thought -- one envisioning an all-in push for nationwide
service, as epitomized by U.S. PIRG, and another preferring to focus on building out one or two successful systems -- Reutter is strongly in the latter camp.

He argues that the U.S. DOT misspent its first round of high-speed rail funds by focusing too much on upgrades of existing Amtrak line that are not expected to top 150 miles per hour, putting most U.S. projects a cut below true bullet trains in Europe and China.

Reutter asks why Florida and California -- the only two states pursuing dedicated passenger rail lines that reach international speed standards -- did not receive more significant amounts of money, and he lays the blame at the feet of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA):

Will Reutter's criticism sway the course of future federal rail investments? Much may depend on how quickly infrastructure companies move forward with new factories and other job-creating work in states with bullet-train money to spend. If the private sector holds off until Florida and California can show that their rail projects are fiscally viable in the long term, the next round of $2.5 billion in high-speed grants may well look more targeted.