By Herb Katz Mayor Pro Tem
Freight volumes are expected to skyrocket over the next 20 years. Much of this expected freight volume will come and go through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. We can not afford to sit back and wait, our State and Federal Government needs to do something to prepare.
As a city councilmember for the city of Santa Monica, I feel it is my obligation to be a part of the solution. If nothing is done to accommodate this new freight our highways will see even more gridlock. Rail provides an obvious and viable solution, and we should be expanding our freight rail system in Southern California and across the nation to pick up some of this expected freight volume.
One intermodal train can carry 280 truck trailers that would otherwise be clogging our region’s freeways. A locomotive can move a ton of freight more than 400 miles on just one gallon of diesel fuel. The bottom line is that every ton of freight moving by rail means safer, less congested highways, less infrastructure damage, less fuel burned and less air pollution.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Congressional Budget Office, the Transportation Research Board and the Hudson Institute all report that investment in rail may not be sufficient or grow fast enough to address soaring freight demand.
Legislation introduced last summer in the U.S. Senate would help meet this challenge by providing tax incentives to businesses that make new freight rail infrastructure investments that actually expand freight rail capacity. It is anticipated that this legislation will be reintroduced in the new Congress in 2007. Unfortunately, legislation is also expected that would “reregulate” the railroads, which were largely deregulated in 1980. An unintended consequence of this legislation would be much lower levels of investment in rail infrastructure and shrinking rail capacity at a time when expansion is badly needed.
Adding freight rail hauling capacity saves on highway costs from infrastructure damage, reduces highway gridlock, saves fuel and reduces pollution. Investing in freight rail just makes sense. Imposing heavy handed new regulations on rail that impede expansion of rail capacity makes no sense at all.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 18, 2006. Read the original PDF.