WASHINGTON - The difficulty of getting high-speed rail on track in the United States is a result of a dearth of political will and a lack of a dedicated funding source, rail experts said Monday at The Bond Buyer's Transportation Finance/P3 Conference.
"High-speed rail technology and the vehicles that can operate in that sort of system have been operating on European and Asian lines for decades, but the political will in this country is not there," said Michael Pikiel, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. "These are complicated projects that require a lot of thought."
There are challenges to putting bullet trains in service, including questions about track access and the problems involved in interfacing with other transportation systems, "but nothing that cannot be overcome," Pikiel said.
Almost all of the $10 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail projects has been dedicated, said Corey Hill, director of program delivery at the Federal Railroad Administration.
"We got $8 billion for high-speed rail in the 2009 stimulus package and Congress appropriated another $2 billion in 2010," Hill said. "We've dedicated 99% of that money, with 85% of it going to projects in six corridors."
Progress on California's $68 billion high-speed rail system had been halted over questions about the $8.6 billion of state bonds dedicated to the system, but work is now under way after the state Supreme Court ruled in October that the bonds could be sold, Hill said. The federal government has contributed more than $1.5 billion to the California project, he said.
"We saw our busiest rail construction season ever in 2013 and the push will continue through 2016," he said. "There is a stipulation that the federal funding must be contracted by Sept. 30, 2015."
Once the $10 billion has been spent, there is no assurance that more federal funding for high-speed rail will be available in addition to existing federal loan programs, Hill said.
"There is no dedicated or predictable funding for rail," he said. "That makes railroads hesitant to invest in the kind of facilities that would be needed."
Hill said the term "high-speed rail" often is a hindrance to public acceptance of rail projects.
"Top speed is rarely achieved," he said. "The average speed is more important because when you throw out speed numbers, they get buried in a bunch of noise that does not add to the debate."
Trains are a valuable transportation resource at whatever speed, said Richard Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.
High-speed rail is "whatever is faster than you can drive without getting a ticket," he said.
"Train service is good no matter what the speed is," Harnish said. "There is a lot of need for slower trains as well as fast trains."
Harnish predicted a rosy future for high-speed rail despite its current challenges.
"We are going to see trains going 220 mph in North America in the next 15 to 20 years," he said.
The cost of a proposed high-speed link from Chicago to St. Louis, with a side track to Indianapolis, is estimated at $25 billion to $50 billion, Harnish said, depending on how it is built and the potential ridership.
Public-private partnerships could help finance and build up to 23% of the project, Harnish said, adding, "But I believe the market is much greater than is assumed in these projections."
