The campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is about to move into a new phase, with the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus serving as the prelude to a series of primary elections. As the process of narrowing the field continues, Trains News Wire looks at the top candidates’ stance on key rail issues.
Current national polling puts former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and South Bend, Ind., iMayor Pete Buttigieg at the front of the field.
Although former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is skipping the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, he’s advertising heavily and has garnered a 5% average in national polls.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar got a shot in the arm from The New York Times editorial board, which gave her and Warren an unusual dual endorsement just two weeks before the Iowa caucus.
Each of these candidates proposes ambitious, and expensive, plans to grow passenger rail and transit and rapidly move toward a clean-energy economy.
Amtrak, Passenger Rail and Transit
Although affectionately known as “Amtrak Joe,” Biden’s record while in the White House is decidedly mixed. Funding for the passenger railroad during the Obama years remained stuck at the $1.4-$1.5 billion level, although it received an additional $1.3 billion from the 2009 stimulus program. Biden is credited with arranging a $2.45 billion federal loan to Amtrak in 2016, which went to purchase the new Acela trainsets from Alstom.
Calling for a “second great railroad revolution,” he promises to cut Northeast Corridor travel times from Washington to New York by half and build a new Hudson River tunnel. Biden also supports completion of the troubled California High Speed Rail project and envisions construction of a coast-to-coast high-speed rail system.
Warren says she wants to “expand and improve public transit across our country.” She strongly supports the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program and has worked to get funding for her home-state Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
The other New England senator, Bernie Sanders, aims to make a $300 billion investment in public transit that, he claims, would grow ridership 65% by 2030. He also proposes a $607 billion program for regional high-speed rail following the model of the Obama administration’s stillborn plan.
Buttigieg wants to provide $100 billion in grants and loans for both state-of-good-repair and expansion projects for transit and intercity rail. He pledges to double funding for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program.
Bloomberg would triple federal funding for public transit, including $12 billion per year earmarked for operations and maintenance. He looks to complete one high speed rail corridor by 2025 and three by 2030, along with building rail connections to 10 major airports. The former mayor says he will “prioritize new rail links to make travel more convenient than flights for trips under 600 miles.”
Klobuchar wants to increase investment in public transit, “particularly for low-income communities and communities of color.” She also wants to expand high speed rail. As a member of the Senate Commerce committee, which oversees railroad policy, Klobuchar supports the proposed Amtrak Twin Cities-Duluth train, which awaits state funding.
Infrastructure
Buttigieg wants new oversight of federally-funded transportation projects. He would require recipients to show how their projects make it easier to get to work, school, or medical facilities. His $1 trillion infrastructure package would increase funding for BUILD grants along with Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act and Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing programs.
Klobuchar outlines a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, which includes funding to “overhaul our rail infrastructure when it comes to freight and passenger rail.” She would establish an independent financing authority to help states and municipalities leverage privately available funds.
Bloomberg’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal includes “incentives for rail operators to electrify freight rail lines” and “incentives for rail companies and state and local governments to add capacity, and for manufacturers to ship more freight by rail or barge.” He also favors public-private partnerships.
Environment
Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg and Klobuchar all support the controversial Green New Deal and make promises to quickly convert the U.S. economy from a reliance on fossil fuels, although industry experts see no realistic scenario for replacing 26,000 diesel locomotives powering freight and passenger trains in the U.S. and no clean propulsion technology for airliners.
Sanders wants America to run on “100% renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030.” Warren plans to be “on the path to a 100% emissions-free electricity supply by 2035.” Buttigieg sets 2040 to achieve “net zero emissions for all new heavy-duty vehicles, buses, rail, ships and aircrafts.” Biden and Klobuchar mark 2050 as their target for net-zero emissions.
Bloomberg has called the Green New Deal a non-starter. His targets for transitioning to a clean-energy economy are more modest, if still a stretch, promising 80% clean electricity by 2029 and reducing emissions across the U.S. by 50% within 10 years.
Freight Railroads
Klobuchar has been a staunch supporter of the Short Line Railroad 45G Tax Credit, which was extended for five years in December.
She also supports “mandating two-man crews, improving braking systems, and ensuring communities are prepared to respond to derailments involving hazardous cargo.” Klobuchar wants to use the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to provide “fair treatment for captive shippers” and to address consolidation among freight rail carriers.
Sanders will order the Federal Railroad Administration to impose “new rules requiring companies to retrofit the coal and oil bomb trains to prevent explosions, derailments, and spills.”
Buttigieg promises to finalize the National Multimodal Freight Network, part of a national freight strategy that languished in Washington until December, when the U.S. Department of Transportation opened a public comment period on the strategic plan. He says he would “improve collaboration between Amtrak and the freight railroads, so that passenger trains do not interfere with freight operations, and freight railroads deliver the priority treatment to passenger trains that our existing laws require.”
Biden supports the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) project, and wants to “further electrify the rail system,” including Amtrak and freight railroads.
As a retired electrical engineer who specialized in high power management. I find thee Green New Deal and the politicians supporting it to be nothing short of magic. It’s amazing how many lay people eagerly drink the lemonade and react angrily if you try to point out the technical and economical flaws of this “New Deal.” It will take a magic wand to come up the funding. It will take another magic wand to generate the electrical power with wind & solar…not even taking into account the vast increase of load required by the presumption of replacing everything in transportation with electrification. Of course, it will take an even bigger magic wand to generate this staggering amount of power after the total elimination of all fossil fuel and nuclear power generation. Now the magic political candidates are promising it will magically happen in 10-15 years under their magic administration. In years past, I was a Democrat. As they wandered further and further afield into fairytale land, I had no choice but to go Republican. I still couldn’t vote for D. Trump so I went Independent. Because of the impeachment debacle, I just might vote for him this time. If only he couldn’t speak!
I wonder when people in Washington realize freight trains and passenger trains don’t mix, Amtrak needs to get real and stop complaining about delays, they’ve been sharing the rails since 1971, now only in the last couple of years started blaming the railroads for their problems, as long as Amtrak has to share tracks on their long-distance trains, either shut up or build their own tracks for their trains.
MAYNARD – Nice of you to blame Republicans. Neither party has solved the problems you blame on the Republicans. The Democrats have no plan to make Amtrak viable. The Democrats have no funding source for the Hudson tunnels.
If you want to play politics on this site, you will have plenty of company. What has destroyed the public sector economy in this country is public sector employee pensions and other public sector employee benefits. That’s about 95% Democrat. Along with the ridiculous amount of money spent on education to produce generations of illiterates. That’s about 99% Democrat.
How’s the Iowa Democrat Caucus coming this morning?
PS The Republicans haven’t destroyed Amtrak. Amtrak has been destroyed by a failed economic model conjoined with managerial incompetence. That’s been bipartisan.
So what do the republicans support? Destroy Amtrak, let the Hudson tunnels fail, more freeways more (chinese) cars. etc.etc.
Andrew Chandler asks if any of them use transit. Doug Potter points out that Joe Biden has been a regular Amtrak user, even recently, and does have a sense of the railroad (mostly from riding an Acela and talking to Amtrak conductors who think well of him and have developed long-term friendships).
I’ve ridden trains with Bernie Sanders. He is not a regular Amtrak rider like Joe Biden but I’m pretty sure he has used the Vermonter from DC to home before. Bernie grew up riding the subway in Brooklyn. He has been a long-time steadfast supporter of rail in Vermont. To his credit, he hired an excellent Republican staffer with rail expertise for his Vermont based transportation staffer.
This reminds me of my model trains.I have a vision of multiple decks,hundreds of rail cars ,lots of engines and multiple passenger trains, high speed of course.Then I look at my bank account. I’ll just have to keep looking at Model Railroader.
Low emission diesel does not decrease the amount of carbon emitted , it actually increases it slighlty, due to the extra power required to run the scrubbers etc . Not the right term scrubber, but the main thing is it does not reduce carbon emissions.
MARK – Me again. You ask, what is the GOP plan for rail. The GOP has no plan but neither does the Democrat party. A wish list isn’t a plan. A wish list becomes a plan only when the capital cost is projected and the funding source identified. Along with a budget for operational subsidies if not covered by revenue. The Joe Bidens of this world have no such thing, not even close.
It’s the same in transit as in education. The socialists and Communists who have taken over the Democrat party want free college and cancellation of existing student debt. These people don’t even have a plan how to cover future pension obligations for education which occurred in the past.
“Utter destruction by Marxists?” For God’s sake go take a tranquilizer.
MARK – THE GOP doesn’t have a plan, nor will it as long as NEC state and local Democrat politicians are in open rebellion against the federal government’s right and duty to protect the borders.
There can be no infrastructure improvements without a sound and growing economy. An election of Democrats in 2020 to the White House or Congress will destroy the economy, so any talk of infrastructure improvements will be moot.
We’re in enough trouble with the Republicans in partial control (as ROBERT McGUIRE posts below. Bad as the Republicans are, the Democrats are immeasurably worse. This election will mean either the half-baked continuation of our half-baked economy, or its utter destruction by outright Marxists calling themselves Democrats.
What does it say about the Democrats that an arrogant demented fool Republican is seen as the nation’s savior.
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/441909-trumps-infrastructure-plan-hits-gop-roadblock
GOP issue is that all of these plans and diversions of revenue aren’t part of an overall strategy.
So Congress would have to overspend the budget to meet these proposed mandates.
They want any strategy tied to the highway trust fund re-authorization.
If I were a freight RR executive, the last thing I would want is massive government intrusion. Way too much is done for political reasons. A good example was Kennedy in the early 60’s pressuring RR’s to keep firemen after steam was gone.
Biden’s call for “coast to coast” High-Speed rail as well as having all USA taxpayers bail out the CA HS rail disaster is reason enough to hope he doesn’t become president. I can’t even begin to imagine the magnitude of tax monies flowing down those rabbit holes.
Bloomberg”s idea of government HS rail for 2025 and 2030 can’t come about until the environment rules and all the other government mandated red tape are heavily modified. I seriously doubt that will happen with any of the Dem nominees. As far as I know, they all are attacking Trump’s attempts to change any government rules to accomplish that. I’m not a Bloomberg fan as I don’t think he has a clue of how to relate to anything other than basically the biggest metropolitan areas.
i continue to be amazed at Sanders support since I can’t think of anything resembling common sense coming from him. He appears to be closer to traditional communists than European Socialists.
Seeing the armchair politicians here making comments so I wonder if they could tell me the GOP plan? Or for that matter could any of you come up with a plan that both sides could cling on too?
In recent years, there is no politician I trust, or any I think that can get anything done, without “their party’s support. I’d give a slight edge to “Amtrak Joe” who has actually used Amtrak, and may be more aware of its needs and problems. Paul D.: as all our parents walked uphill to school, both ways, getting trains to run down hill should be easy. 🙂 Curtis L.: I haven’t seen our Constitution having anything to do with railroads. Mark R.: I’ve never heard of any possible GOP RR plan. Charles L.: I don’t agree that all or most of any candidates (well Dems anyway) will gut the system. It is possible, but no evidence to that. Robert M.: I absolutely disagree with your first sentence; I do agree with your last sentence. Just my .02 worth. Actions speak louder than words. We need less words and more actions.
THEODORE – A leading candidate for the Democrat nomination is a veteran Marxist. Several of the other candidates are close. If you don’t see that you’re in denial. The people that need to “go take a tranquilizer” are the Democrats who have stood by while their party has been taken over by socialists and Communists. Me, I’m a mainline conservative and have no need for medication. My own views are the same views that have been in the mainstream for more than a century:- both Roosevelts, Harry Truman, Jack Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, both Bushes.
Where you are correct is that if elected the realities of governance will modulate the candidates views, just as did in fact occur in the eight years of governance by the socialist – leaning Barack Obama.
The Democrat party is now so far to the left that the socialists are now seen as “moderates”.
DON – There is much of value in your post and your “back of the envelope” calculation, to use your term. It would seem to me that railroading in this country doesn’t run on the 10-20 year planning period you put forth. While I think you might be optimistic in your projected 10 – 20 year payback your larger point stands: – electricfication is a proven technology.
I did a “back of the envelope” calculation on electrification the major frt rail routes. It would pay for itself, although the rate of return wasn’t huge – 10-20 year pay back. Savings was all in energy consumption.
I think the less easily quantified benefits of electrification make is something to be seriously considered. If the government policy was to give it a push, it could happen.
In the midst of all these newswire worriers about the small print, the US Constitution is being gutted. When it is, whose to blame? Take your pick..the FRA, EPA, Congress?
but they are diesel locomotives that have built to low emission standards
Biden’s transportation platform includes railroad electrification, which will be needed to address Global Warming. Electric railways are more efficient railways with big long-term benefits — but the high up front capital costs requires public money of some sort, just like the Pennsylvania Railroad received in the 1930s for the NYC-Wash-Harrisburg electrification.
We are becoming a has-been country with a transportation system frozen in the mid twentieth century. It will take a lot of big thinking and big spending just to get us caught up. There was a time when we led the world in transportation. It’s a question of priorities.
All the Green New Deal people have to do is find a way to run all the trains downhill and let the regenerative braking make free electricity.
I don’t think you could find one complete brain among the five top runners. We’ve heard the idiots speak before from those in both parties and don’t hold out any hope for any of their lame promises.
If any one of these fools – even the best of the rotten bunch – gets elected we’ll have the rail system of Guatemala or Venezuela.
do any of them ride transit or Amtrak to any degree now? And Klobuchar’s sophomoric comment to “overhaul our rail infrastructure when it comes to freight and passenger rail” is a meaningless repetition of the obvious.
Yup, just like playing the Railway Empire game in Sandbox mode, money is no object.